France welcomes Olympic flag as 2030 Winter Games loom

ALBERTVILLE, France, Feb 23 : The Olympic flag returned to French soil on Monday, less than two years after the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, as preparations began for the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps.

The Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region and the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) welcomed back their delegation and the flag. The celebration drew a raucous crowd of thousands in Albertville, where the last Winter Olympics in France were held in 1992, following Chamonix 1924 and Grenoble 1968.

"A moment full of enthusiasm, part of the momentum building up to the 2030 Games," Fabrice Pannekoucke, the president of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes regional council, said during last week's press conference to introduce the celebration.

"We know that the history of the Winter Games in France stopped in Albertville."

The event followed the ceremonial handover on Sunday, when Pannekoucke and his Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur counterpart Renaud Muselier received the Olympic flag during the 2026 Games closing ceremony in Verona.

France enjoyed their best ever Winter Games haul in Milano-Cortina. Their 23 medals included eight golds.

"Sharing this with all the French fans will be a nice little moment of happiness," biathlon mass start Olympic champion Oceane Michelon told reporters in Albertville.

Ice dancers Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry won the Olympic title less than a year after forming their partnership.

"The pleasure we shared on the ice was amazing," Fournier Beaudry said. "We don't know yet what the future reserves for us but we know that we will keep skating together and we will regroup at the end of the season to see what we want to do."

Ski mountaineers Thibault Anselmet and Emily Harrop won the