All eyes on sports diplomacy at Paris 2024
By Sarah Leary and Dr Kate O’Shaughnessy
As athletes worldwide participate in the Paris Olympics, foreign policy analysts are also preparing to observe and officiate the geopolitical contests that loom.
What will France make of its time in the global sports diplomacy spotlight? Will the 2024 games be used as a vehicle for cultural and political projection, or will it provide us with a more nuanced version of sports diplomacy, through relationships and connection? Will Paris 2024 generate relational splashes, ripples or waves for French foreign policy interests in the Indo-Pacific? And what lessons can Australia take away as an emerging sports diplomacy powerhouse in the Indo-Pacific?
France – like many western nations – has faced some foreign policy setbacks over the last few years, so they need this sports diplomacy gig more than ever. France has long considered itself the security and diplomatic partner of choice in Africa, but that self-image has taken a serious battering, with French troops and diplomats expelled from Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali and replaced with Russian mercenaries over the last two years. It is also navigating territorial disputes with island states of Mauritius, Madagascar and Comoros in the Western Indian Ocean. Recent violent protests in the French territory of New Caledonia, over a controversial electoral reform proposal, also demonstrated that France’s image in the Pacific remains complicated. The impact of these disputes on France’s reputational settings in the Indo-Pacific mean that finding new ways to build relationships matter more than ever.
Sport, politics and diplomacy have always been intertwined but the practice of leveraging sport as a tool of statecraft is becoming an increasingly popular feature of contemporary diplomatic practice. At its most fundamental level, it is the art of building, preserving and extending power through people and relationships.
Sports diplomacy is quiet and loud. At the community level, it enables different cultures across Australia to understand one another on and off the field. If good foreign policy begins at home, then the sporting field is a platform where regular health checks can be performed at the grassroots level.
At mega sporting events like the Olympic Games, relationships are amplified, broadcast and (yes) commodified for strategic effect by governments and commercial sponsors alike. This year’s Olympic Games will see 206 countries represented with 23,500 athletes and support staff accommodated in the Olympic Village, in addition to over 9,000 accredited journalists, and almost 1.5 million spectators from all over the world. This represents one of the richest geopolitical opportunities on earth to build connections and dialogue between cultures.
Recognising this as a rare opportunity to further its diplomatic objectives, France hosted over 100 heads of state and government at a star-studded Olympic Games opening ceremony on the River Seine this weekend. Amongst these dignitaries were British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Secretary General of the UN Antonio Guterres, along with US First Lady Jill Biden, Indonesian president-elect Subianto Prabowo and 11 African heads of state and many more. Absent though were the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, India, and China.
France is bringing a big sustainability agenda to its Olympic hosting rights, but a legacy has already been forged with Paris 2024 set to become the first Olympic Games in history to achieve gender parity with a 50:50 participation balance between women and men.
As a means to connect, sport remains a very powerful tool for French and Australian diplomats alike. It enables us to hold a mirror to the societies we are seeking to engage and show what we respect and admire back. So while much will be discussed by analysts about the grand vistas, venues and values France is seeking to project through its hosting of Paris 2024, the real test (at least from a strategic perspective) will be the relational connections France prioritises on the sidelines. Let us not forget that sports diplomacy is at its strategic best when countries resist the temptation to project “please love us” and instead embrace the more nuanced (and impactful) practice of “we love you.”
While sport is central to the national identity of most countries, our affections tend to triple when our athletes are seen to be celebrated, admired and respected by other cultures and countries. The challenge host nations face for all mega sporting events, at least from a diplomatic perspective, is getting the balance right between unleashing national pride and allowing other countries to have their time in the spotlight too. Afterall, Brisbane 2032 – touted by organisers as an Olympics ‘for the whole Pacific region’ is just 9 years away.
With sport a source of deep connectivity in the Indo-Pacific – and with Australia facing its own strategic shifts in the region – it makes sense to follow France’s efforts at Paris 2024 with keen interest from a foreign policy perspective.
By lifting up partners from other countries, celebrating and profiling the stories, and showing what France respects and admires back, France will be able to successfully harness the power of sport as a tool of diplomatic statecraft.
In changing times, the tools of diplomacy are changing and all eyes are on France.