The president of France's Olympic Committee resigned unexpectedly on Thursday, the latest leadership shake up of French sports amid preparations for the Summer Olympics in Paris next year.
Brigitte Henriques, a former soccer player on the French national team, was the first woman to lead Olympic sports in France.
Her abrupt departure follows a period of intense infighting in French Olympic circles and prompted calls from Paris 2024 organizers for sports leaders to set differences aside and focus on delivering the Games. "The Games come around once every hundred years in our country: The sports movement must show up," organizing committee president Tony Estanguet said in a statement.
France's sports minister, Amelie Oudea-Castera, said: "There is no winner today." The French Olympic Committee said Henriques announced at the start of a general assembly meeting on Thursday that she was stepping down.