The Paris 2024 organizing committee will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the controversy surrounding a social media post about the war in Gaza by Olympic ambassador Emily Gomez, a former French basketball player.
On October 9, two days after the surprise Hamas attack on Israel, Gomez posted an Instagram story showing the Israeli flag gradually covering parts of a map of France, accompanied by the question: “What would you do in this situation?”
Critics accused the former basketball player of anti-Semitism and supporting the Hamas attack, which Gomez strongly denied.
The controversy surrounding Gomez, a retired athlete of Senegalese descent who represented France for over 10 years and won the 2009 European Championship, is the latest thorny issue facing the Games, which are already suffering from geopolitical tensions due to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, said in a radio interview: “I have scheduled a meeting of the board of directors today to make a decision on this matter.”
He added: “It is a matter of the utmost importance because all representatives of the Paris 2024 Olympics have a responsibility to welcome all delegations because we will be hosting the world from July 26.”
Gomez has since apologized. She said in a later social media post: “The accusations of anti-Semitism I am facing are completely at odds with the values that sport has instilled in me and taught me,” and she apologized to anyone who felt offended.
The Paris 2024 organizing committee said it hopes for a happy and safe Olympic Games for everyone, but organizers are concerned that the event could become embroiled in political matters amid the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine and France’s domestic security challenges.
Estanguet referred Gomez’s case to the ethics committee, which said last month that her post constituted a “serious violation of ethical commitments.”
