Cyril Linette, chief executive (CEO) at the organizing committee for the 2030 French Alps Winter Olympics, has stepped down, with organizers citing 'irreconcilable differences' between him and committee chief Edgar Grospiron.
The Games' organizers confirmed today that Linette's exit was formalized at a board meeting last week, with the committee now looking towards "new momentum through renewed governance."
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Linette, who was appointed CEO last April, had been publicly feuding with Grospiron over the past few months, but tensions escalated further when several other members of the games' leadership team, including the chief operating officer and the communications director, resigned.
This also comes with the 2026 Winter Olympics having just wrapped up, with that event having taken place in the Milan-Cortina region of northern Italy earlier in February.
Linette had a long career in sport before taking on the French Alps 2030 leadership, having joined French pay-TV giant Canal Plus in 1996 as a journalist (after two years in the same role at Eurosport). He became deputy head editor in 2006 and soccer editor in 2007. He then took up the position of director of sports in 2008, replacing the outgoing Alexandre Bompard.
In 2015, he departed to take up the director general role at iconic French publication L’Equipe, which he exited in 2018, after which he had spells at French horse racing’s Pari Mutuel Urbain industry body, the press group TEMA, and French soccer’s LFP governing body.
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By GlobalDataMost recently, in 2022, Linette founded the Fellow Company media consultancy that operates across media and sport, aiding in communications, strategy management, and coaching.
Grospiron, a former skiing Olympic champion, was himself named president of French Alps 2030 last February after his only serious rival for the post, Martin Fourcade, removed himself from contention earlier that month.
The 2030 Winter Olympics – which have a budget of €2 billion ($2.1 billion) – will be held across Nice and the French Alps, between February 1 and 17. Specifically, the event will involve the regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
The games' organizing committee has now stated: "The stakeholders reaffirm their commitment to the success of the 2030 French Alps Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
"The collective priority remains the continuation of the work already underway in service of the project."
France was conditionally awarded hosting rights to those games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in July 2024, although it took until October of that year for the necessary financial guarantees to be provided by the French government.
