Edgar Grospiron resigns as president of Alps 2030 organising committee

Edgar Grospiron resigned on Thursday, 10 September, as president of the organising committee (Cojop) for the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in the French Alps. The committee announced the decision during a meeting of its executive board. France 3 reported that the board met at the committee's headquarters in Décines, while broadcaster ICI said Grospiron announced his departure by video conference.

In a statement, the committee said the executive board had taken note of the 57-year-old's decision. It described his exit as part of a chosen, organised and accepted transition in the interest of the project and its governance, reflecting a wish shared with the stakeholders to let the organisation move quickly into its new operational phase.

"Pass the baton"

Grospiron, who won Olympic moguls gold at Albertville in 1992, explained his decision on LinkedIn. After several months of tension at governance level, he wrote, he had concluded that the conditions were no longer in place for him to continue. It had become more appropriate to pass the baton than to cling on, he added. Some would call it a failure or a surrender, the Frenchman acknowledged, conceding there had been obstacles, clashes and difficult decisions.

Grospiron, from Haute-Savoie, took charge of the committee in February 2025. ICI put his tenure at a year and a half, while the Cojop statement speaks of nineteen months. During that time, the committee said, it built an identity and validated the venue map and the sports programme under his presidency.

The IOC also said it had taken note of the resignation and stated that Grospiron had laid "solid foundations". The economic fundamentals of the project are sound, the Lausanne-based body said, and the project benefits from a robust venue master plan.

A committee in crisis

According to Swiss daily Le Temps, the Cojop has been weighed down for several months by a serious governance crisis and had lost the confidence of the Games' stakeholders. ORF, citing Le Monde, reported that Grospiron's management style had caused friction and that he had lost trust as far up as the government.

Le Temps traces a run of departures back to last December, when director of operations Anne Murac resigned. In February, during the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, Cyril Linette left citing "insurmountable disagreements" with Grospiron. ORF describes Linette as director general, Le Temps as the committee's number two. ORF said Grospiron's resignation follows the exit of three other senior executives.

Neither a general inspection mission, nor an interim spell under former prefect Michel Cadot, nor the arrival of prefect Vincent Roberti as the new director general managed to put governance back on track, Le Temps wrote. ICI reported that an audit of the working climate inside the committee was launched at the start of the summer. Early-summer milestones – the unveiling of the emblems, EDF's announcement as first premium sponsor and the completed venue map – did not change the picture.

On Tuesday, the Cojop told AFP that the presentation of a second sponsor, planned for Wednesday in Lyon, had been postponed – "but not the partnership itself" – to keep it separate from Thursday's executive board meeting.

General assembly on 14 September

An extraordinary general assembly on Monday, 14 September, is set to organise an interim leadership until a new president is appointed. The Games are three and a half years away. They will be the fourth Winter Olympics in the French Alps, after Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992.