Sport

Since its foundation in 1945, the French National Institute of Sport and Physical Education (INSEP), under the supervision of the Ministry of Youth and Sport, has been at the service of top French and foreign sportsmen and women. It provides them with the optimum conditions to enable them to combine training and study. Thanks to the success of its athletes at the Olympic Games, it has earned itself an international reputation, which has enabled it to develop international exchanges with some forty countries.

It is a campus on the Anglo-American model with redbrick buildings nestled in the greenery of the Bois de Vincennes, a short step from the Parc Floral and La Cartoucherie*. Outside, trees felled by the storm of December 1999 block some of the entrances, but within the campus, where the fencers’ arms room has suffered considerable damage, all the paths have been cleared for the greater pleasure of the residents, who cycle happily from one building to another. This is not a "college" or a "private school" on the British or American model, but the "students" do wear a uniform, a tracksuit. They don’t do sport just because they are keen on it or for health reasons: it is their vocation, and INSEP is their reception and training centre.

Set up immediately after the Second World War, the Institut National des Sports, which became INSEP in 1974, has been installed in the cool of the Bois de Vincennes since 1976, to provide facilities and training for top sportsmen and women: "May come under the heading of the ’Elite’ category, the sportsman or woman who achieves a significant performance or ranking as an individual, or who takes part as a member of a team in the Olympic Games or in the World or European championships", states a decree issued on August 31, 1993 on the subject of top level sport and the standards for sports facilities.

A training and educational base

The various French sports associations spot these athletes through their own organisations, and each year put forward candidates to INSEP. "We try to make life easy for the people we accept," explains Caroline Carpentier, head of the Department of Top Level Sportsmen and women at the Institute. "We endeavour to ensure that their accommodation, training facilities and education are located in the same place."

In 2000, the East Paris establishment has 900 athletes, from 36 sports associations, ranging from athletics to volleyball through parachuting and American football. The average age of the "boarders" - INSEP can accommodate up to 400 people - is about twenty-seven. The youngest are fifteen, in the equivalent of the British Year 11, but from next year, they will have to have reached sixth form level to be accepted into the Institute. The oldest, fencer Eric Srecky, is thirty-six years old. "He is preparing for the Sydney Olympic Games. All his partners are here, his coach is here." stresses Caroline Carpentier. In exchange, the fencer, a physical education teacher working flexible hours, makes his reputation as double Olympic champion in his event (team medal in 1988, in Seoul, and individual in 1992, in Barcelona) available to the Vincennes training centre, by running a number of training sessions at the centre and by acting as a representative of INSEP abroad.

While INSEP, a victim of its own success, is trying to reduce the number of its "pupils", it is recording spectacular expansion of its international relations. As recently as ten years ago, this sector was managed by one of the Head of the Centre’s secretaries. A genuine "international relations task force" was created in 1994. It became an entirely separate unit in 1997, which ensures regular exchanges with some forty countries. There is only one explanation for this rapid development: the success of INSEP’s athletes, who, at the Atlanta Olympic Games, in 1996, ran off with 20 of the 37 medals won by the French. "The Barcelona games had already been a good trigger," recalls Ghislaine Quintillan, head of INSEP’s International Relations unit. "But after the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, a great many foreign delegations wanted to come and see us to find out how the Institute was run. Our visitors all think that it is the key to the success of French sport, although it is only one link in a chain."

An international reputation

Most of these visits are financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We are often sought out by foreign establishments who want to set up a twinning scheme with us," continues Ghislaine Quintillan. "But if this does not come within the scope of bilateral protocols, we cannot finance such schemes. This is sometimes embarrassing." However, such relationships are not limited to simple exchanges of views. INSEP is host to researchers and sends its own abroad. "There are numerous research exchanges. Many of our laboratory staff, especially those in biomechanics and physiology, go to see what is going on elsewhere or welcome their foreign colleagues," Ghislaine Quintillan points out. In recent years, the fight against drugs has been one of the principal vectors of these international exchanges.

In 1999, the establishment in the Bois de Vincennes welcomed 290 foreigners, sportsmen and women, technical staff and researchers. Among these visitors are thirteen athletes benefiting from an Olympic Solidarity grant. They are here to prepare for the Sydney Olympic Games, with the consent of the French sports associations. A laudable sporting spirit!

* Former munitions store of the Château de Vincennes, now converted into a theatre.

Website: www.insep.jeunesse-sports.fr

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