The 2023 Jeux de la Francophonie, also known as ''IXieme Jeux de la Francophonie'' (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

for ''9th Francophone Games''), informally Kinshasa 2023 ( ln, Kinsásá 2023), were a multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 6, 2023, in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. This was the first edition of the games to be hosted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Originally awards on April 7, 2016, to

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

and Dieppe. On January 30, 2019, the New Brunswick government cancelled its commitment to host the games due to funding issues. The games were awarded to

in July 2019. In 2020, the games were moved from 2021 to 2022 to avoid clashing with the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. They were postponed once again in 2022, to 2023 due to delays. Several countries withdrew from the games or sent reduced delegations due to health and safety concerns including team Canada, Quebec, New Brunswick and France.

Organisation

First selection

Among the interested hosts were

- Dieppe,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

Sherbrooke, Quebec Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional count ...

and

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

. After the advisory committee of the international committee of the Francophonie Games decided to support New Brunswick, the Quebec government announced that it was joining the consensus reached, would step aside and support New Brunswick's bid. The games were officially awarded in Paris on April 7, 2016, to

and Dieppe as the sole remaining bid. Venues for the games were to include Universite de Moncton's Moncton Stadium, and facilities at

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...

and Crandall University.

New Brunswick Community College New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) is a community college located throughout various locations in New Brunswick, Canada including Moncton, Miramichi, Fredericton (its head office), Saint John, St. Andrews, and Woodstock. New Brunswick Co ...

in Dieppe was expected to host the event's cultural activities. Up to 4,000 athletes and artists were expected to participate. Initially expected to cost $17.5 million, costs grew by 664 per cent to $130 million. On January 30, 2019, the New Brunswick government cancelled its commitment to host the games due to funding issues.

Second selection

The city council of

passed a motion in February 2019 expressing support for hosting the game provided the city receive financial support from the federal government of Canada and the provincial government of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The

Organisation internationale de la Francophonie The (OIF; sometimes shortened to the Francophonie, french: La Francophonie , but also called International Organisation of in English-language context) is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a ...

issued a new call on 1 March 2019 for bids to host the games with a deadline of 31 May 2019 for submissions. The games were awarded to

in July 2019.

Controversies

Less than a month before the Games, several countries withdrew due to health and safety concerns. Quebec canceled its participation, while Canada and New Brunswick still participated with reduced delegations. France limited itself to a few events, refusing, among other things, to send participants for athletics and cycling events. Wallonia-Brussels only sent participants for cultural events, expressing concerns about the state of sports infrastructure. Some delegations, including the Canadian one, hired additional security teams. The general secretary of the

Louise Mushikiwabo Louise Mushikiwabo (born 22 May 1961) is the fourth and current Secretary General of Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. She previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Rwanda from 2009 to 2018. She also se ...

, refuses to come to the opening ceremony of the Games. Against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions between Rwanda and the DRC, she claims that her invitation was never sent to her. She was replaced by

Caroline St-Hilaire Caroline St-Hilaire (born November 16, 1969 in Longueuil, Quebec) is a Canadian politician, who served as Mayor of Longueuil under the banner of Action Longueuil from November 10, 2009 to November 5, 2017. She was previously a Member of Parliam ...

, administrator of the OIF. In October 2023, a new controversy broke out when it was time to take stock of the Francophonie Games. Nicolas Kazadi, the Congolese Minister of Finance, estimates that the cost of these Games was ultimately multiplied by 7. According to figures published by the minister, the initial budget of $48 million ultimately reached $324 million.

Participants

Full members, associate members and observer members of the

are eligible to participate. 34 of 61 members participated in the games.

Venues

Sport Venues

Cultural Venues

Events

Sports

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

() *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

() * Cycling (road) () *

Football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

() * Para-athletics () *

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

() *

Table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

() * Wrestling (African and freestyle) ()

Cultural

* Creative dance * Digital creation * Hip-hop dance * Juggling *

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

Painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

Photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

Puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a perform ...

Sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

Storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...

* Traditional inspiration dance

Medal table

Final medal tally below.

Medalists

African wrestling

Basketball

Cultural

Cycling

Judo

Table tennis

Wrestling

References

External links

Official site

2023 Jeux de la Francophonie
on X
Opening ceremony
{{Authority control Jeux de la Francophonie Jeux De La Francophonie, 2023 International sports competitions hosted by the Democratic Republic of the Congo Sport in Kinshasa Jeux de la Francophonie Jeux de la Francophonie