Paris 2024 Olympic Games: the rant of a Toulouse boss

“It’s absurd! The Paris 2024 Olympics display an ecological and low-carbon label and in fact the organizing committee makes choices contrary to these principles”… Bertrand Avignon is angry and wants to let it be known. The boss of the Toulouse-based company Cryo Control, world leader in cold baths for top-level athletes, cannot explain how the Parisian decision-makers have opted for the most “stupid” cryotherapy system there is and above all the most expensive to refresh and cure the bruised bodies of the athletes after the competitions. “Basically, the idea of ​​the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (COJO) is to buy a thousand tons of ice cream to be melted on request by heating it, while the system we have developed around refrigerated pools with regulated temperatures is much more efficient, explains Bertrand Avignon. Who knows what he’s talking about. “We were already suppliers to the London games, then Rio and Tokyo, with our French technology recognized all over the world”, he underlines. It is therefore completely natural that the business manager has applied to the Olympic market in a sector that he has helped to revolutionize.

“An ecological and financial heresy”

“We had two or three meetings with Paris 2024 on the matter, but finally we learned that a consultation for ice production had been launched and will, in fact, lead to the loss of 1,000 tons of water. It is an ecological, energy and financial heresy,” says Bertrand Avignon. Chastising in passing the incompetence of some opportunistic enarques. “The chosen solution involves making the ice, transporting it by truck and storing it in freezers before heating it, so our process is autonomous and decentralized,” he continues. Cryo Control’s proposal called for the installation of 140 cold baths for a budget of between 600,000 and 800,000 euros, including additional services. When the tender for the 1,000 tons of ice to be processed is around 2.5 million euros… “It is all the crazier, given that we are already equipping the Stade de France, the Parc des Princes, Rolland-Garros or Coubertin for these Olympics, Bertrand Avignon is still annoyed. Hoping that reason will prevail. “One thing is certain, today Paris 2024 goes against many economic and environmental commitments”, he warns. Will he be listened to?