Monday, April 15, 2019, Isabelle Kocher, Managing Director of ENGIE, alongside Roxana Maracineanu, Minister of Sport, signed a new Performance Pact for 2020, in order to ensure that the French athletes competing in the Olympic and Paralympic teams can access the resources they need to plan their professional and sporting undertaking with peace of mind. In December 2014, ENGIE was one of the first companies to join the Performance Pact, an initiative launched by the Ministry of Sport intended to support the French teams in their performance at the Olympics in 2016. At the time, the Group lent their backing to a team of five athletes. Of those five, Hélène Defrance and Pierre Le Coq each won a bronze medal in sailing, which generated strong support from employees, both during the preparation process and at the main event in Brazil.
ENGIE is pursuing this initiative for 2020 through its commitment to the new Performance Pact and will support nine athletes from various regions of France. The choice of athletes was made in association with the Ministry and our regional delegates, with a view to bolstering the Group’s territorial influence and resolving issues faced by our major regions. We want to ensure local presence and get involved with our communities. Our athletes will be regional ambassadors for the Group and help to promote our work with local elected representatives.
To be eligible for the Performance Pact, the athlete must meet the following two criteria:
- Be a high-performing Olympic or Paralympic athlete in their field, and potentially aim for a medal, depending on the views of their federation,
- Be financially unable to prepare properly for this level of sports competition.
The new ENGIE ambassadors include young hopefuls Cassandre Beaugrand (Triathlon), Madeleine Malonga (Judo), Luka Mkheidze (Judo) and Wilfried Happio (Athletics - 400 metre hurdles) who just joined the Team as well as more experienced athletes such as Elodie Clouvel (Modern Pentathlon), Pauline Ado(Surfing), Marie Riou (Sailing), Billy Besson (Sailing) and Pierre Le Coq (Sailing), who was a bronze medalist in Windsurfing at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
As a major partner in French sport for more than 28 years, ENGIE has reaffirmed its unwavering support for French athletes.