The registration deadline for the election of the FFSG president expired this week - what does the candidate list for the election on 14 March actually look like? It could be that after waking up from the current deep sleep it means again: this is not what we wanted ...
Following Nathalie Pechalat (36), two-time European ice dance champion in 2011 and 2012, former figure skating judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne (58), Damien Boyer-Gibaud (35), president of the Angers Ice Dance Club, and Hubert Godefroy (73), former president of the Federal Council and vice-president of the FFSG, a certain Marc Bella (58) is the last candidate in the race for the presidency for the time being.
Marc Bella is running for the presidency for the fifth time and is now trying to fill the gap left by Didier Gailhaguet following the sexual abuse scandals that shook the FFSG. "I, who am outside the media frenzy, bring the election of a candidacy that can bring serenity [...] I was an athlete in these cases, along with many of the protagonists. I know many of them. Of course I care," he explains.
At 58, the former 500m short track world champion in Milan in 1980, 11 times French champion and European champion in 1989, bronze medalist in short track speed skating at the 1,000m of the 1988 Calgary Olympics, is anything but a stranger in the field. The athlete from 1976 to 1992 took over the coaching role in the French national team after the Olympic Games in Albertville. He is now a retired member of the national police force and the United Nations and, above all, "a man of challenges", whom the recent upheavals of "his" federation have allegedly made "immensely sad". "I would like to play a role in the necessary reconstruction that lies ahead of us, in order to restore the image of our now ailing multisports federation and, above all, to restore the confidence of young sportsmen and women and their parents". [...] There are many things that interest me, such as the promotion of small sports within the association. And working with an association in the context of child protection to ensure that what happened never happens again".
And: Marc Bella wants to be "the man for the job": "Due to my past as an athlete, coach and manager, but also as a policeman, I have the skills to fill this position and bring justice", he claims, while "the time two years before the Olympic Games will be quite short without further scandals".
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Former skater Philippe Candeloro (48), a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in 1994 and 1998, then sports consultant and TV presenter, was also a candidate for the post of FFSG president. However, he has now decided not to stand for election. In his opinion, the choice of a successor was made in complete haste, possible candidates like him were not in a position to include such a decision in their career and life planning at such short notice in order to be able to win fair elections in peace.
Candeloro: "I asked myself many questions because we did not foresee Didier Gailhaguet's resignation so quickly, so suddenly. There are a lot of things to sort out, that's for sure [...], but it's a bit of a pity that everything collapsed so quickly. I don't think that any of the candidates today are really ready [Note: capable, impartial, independent and unencumbered enough ...] to take over the job."
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for President 
