The Victoires du Sport ceremony on February 10, 2014 at the Acropolis in Nice paid tribute to the champions who distinguished themselves throughout the year 2014.
Denis Saïoni, godfather of the evening
The evening started around 06 pm, with athletes wearing their club attire and smiling and happy parents immortalizing the event by photographing their offspring. Inside the Appollon hall, a DJ was warming up the room with electro music. Everyone awaited Christian Estrosi’s arrival and finally, the host of the evening Christophe Josse, came on stage.
The giant screen displayed the Red Carpet being walked up by Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice, accompanied by his Sport deputy, Gilles Veissière, judo world champion Loic Pietri, Olympic handball champion, Xavier Barachet and all the nominees as sportsman of the year. They all entered the great hall Apollon under thunderous applause.
Estrosi first presented the godfather of the evening, boxer Denis Saïoni, European middleweight EBA champion, who came on stage in shorts and OGC Nice jersey, entering as on the ring with a hood over the head, accompanied by the music of “Rocky.”
Then karateka Sonia Fiuza, attached to the sports department of the city of Nice, Gilles Veissière, sports deputy, Jean-Pierre Rivère, President of OGC Nice and Fabrice Pellerin, Coach of the ONN, climbed onto the stage and indulged in a series of interviews about their exploits.
Nice City of Sports
A fifteen-minute film entitled “Nice City of Sports” was screened, highlighting the new infrastructures, elite clubs, Nice future hopes, elite athletes, and key events of 2013 (Tour of France, Francophonie Games…) and upcoming ones like the Tour de France à la Voile.
The event was peppered with acrobatic performance with two well-known Quebec artists from the circus world who realized spectacular aerial acrobatics. Then a group of stuntmen from the world of cinema (currently working on a film produced by Luc Besson) who executed fighting on the theme of the movie “Matrix”.
During the evening, a tribute was paid to two iconic figures of the sport who died in Nice in 2013: Henri Bernard, former president of the French and International Federation of Pétanque and Provençal Game and Sébastien Giaume, iconic leader of the Lutte Club de Nice and creator of the challenge Deglane.
Guest of honor Loic Pietri , world champion in judo last August was then praised with the screening of a film about his career already crowned with many famous titles.
Victoires du Sport Awards list
After the invitation to 350 athletes in all disciplines to go on stage to receive their medals from Christian Estrosi, it was finally time for rewards and the verdict of the votes of the public and journalists to be announced.In the category male athlete, Alexy Bosetti, player of OGC Nice wins the trophy before Yannick Agnel, swimmer of the ONN and Jerome Ardissone, champion of full-contact.
In the category female athlete, swimmer Camille Muffat was honored for the fourth time. She wins before Adeline May, French boxing specialist and Charlotte Bonnet, also swimmer of ONN.
In the category Para athlete, Patrice Barattero, snowboarder licensed at club ANICES, wins before Nathalie Cuny, middle-distance runner and Valérie Chaix, walking 800 m athlete.
In the end of the ceremony, European boxing champion Denis Saïoni honored Christian Estrosi by offering him the short he was wearing when he won the Euopean Championship belt. Christian Estrosi said his happiness with this present to be displayed display in the future Sport Museum at Alliance Riviera.
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