Roxana Maracineanu (; born 7 May 1975) is a Romanian-French politician, former swimming champion and television consultant who served as Minister Delegate in charge of Sports in the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Jean Castex Jean Castex (; born 25 June 1965) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 3 July 2020 to 16 May 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2020. Castex served for twelve years as mayor of the small town of ...

(2020–2022) and as Minister of Sports under

Édouard Philippe Édouard Charles Philippe (; born 28 November 1970) is a French politician serving as Mayor (France), mayor of Le Havre since 2020, previously holding the office from 2010 to 2017. He was Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2017 to 3 July 202 ...

(2018–2022). Born in Romania, Maracineanu moved to France as a child, acquiring the citizenship via

naturalisation Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

at age 16. An accomplished swimmer Maracineanu became the first French world swimming champion in January 1998. She won silver medal in the 200 m backstroke at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. She entered politics in 2010 with the Socialist Party by being elected regional councillor of Île-de-France, a mandate she held until 2015. She was the Ensemble candidate in Val-de-Marne's 7th constituency in the

2022 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 Deputy (France), members of the 16th National Assembly (France), National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic. Th ...

, but lost out to Rachel Keke from NUPES.

Family and childhood

Born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania as Roxana Mărăcineanu, she practiced gymnastics as a child. Her father, thanks to a contract of cooperation, went to work in Algeria, taking his family. They then moved to France in 1984 where they asked for asylum to flee the Ceauşescu regime. It was in

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...

, in a transit center, that she learned French. She went to secondary school at Jean Macé College in

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

. She was naturalized French in 1991 at the age of 16 years. She graduated from

ESCP Europe ESCP Business School (; ) is a French business school and ''grande école'' founded in Paris and based across Europe with campuses in Paris, Berlin, London, Madrid, Turin, and Warsaw. Established in 1819, it is considered the world's oldest busi ...

in 2005 and has a master's degree in English and German.

Sporting career

Representing the Mulhouse Olympic Swimming team, whose coach was Lionel Horter, Maracineanu won her first French national title in 100 meters and 200 meters at the 1991 summer championships. In

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, at the 1997 European Championships, she was beaten by Germany's Antje Buschschulte in the 100 meters back and third in the 200-meter backstroke, behind Germany's Cathleen Rund and Antje Buschschulte. At the 1998 Worlds Championships in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, she began her competition with a sixth place finish in the 100m backstroke, won by Lea Maurer. Before the 200-meter final, her coach Lionel Horter assures her that if she leads the 150-meter race, she will win the race. First in front of Germany's Dagmar Hase, she becomes the first French world swimming champion. In October 2004, she announced her retirement two months after

Laure Manaudou Laure Manaudou (; born 9 October 1986) is a retired French Olympic, world and European champion swimmer. She has held the world record in freestyle events between 200 and 1500 meter. She is the older sister of Florent Manaudou who is also an Olym ...

's 400m triumph at the Athens Olympics. She had been a childhood idol of Manaudou's, having sent a letter to her in her youth.

Sports consultant and other activities

Consultant

In March 2007, at the World Swimming Championships in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, she was a consultant for

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

alongside Alexandre Boyon and Michel Rousseau, and for L'Équipe TV. Since the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, she has been a consultant on the public group and on

Europe 1 Europe 1, (''Europe un'') formerly known as Europe nº 1, is a privately owned radio station created in 1955. It was owned and operated by Lagardère News, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group, it was one of the leading radio broadcasting s ...

. She renewed this collaboration for the 2009 World Championships in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, the 2010 World Short Course Championships in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

, the 2010 European Championships in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, at the

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. At the 2014 European Championships,

Frédérick Bousquet Frédérick Bousquet (, born 8 April 1981 in Perpignan) is a retired freestyle and butterfly swimmer from France. He was the holder of the world record in the 50 m freestyle in a time of 20.94 in long course, set on 26 April 2009 at the f ...

, injured, was a consultant to Maracineanu, Alexandre Boyon and Nelson Monfort. For the next major competition, at the 2015 Kazan World Championships, the

group, wishing to reform the duo Philippe Lucas and

, did not renew her contract. In 2009, she received the Sports Commentator Award from the Association of Sports Writers. It rewards "a journalist, professional, audiovisual commentator, with the appreciated knowledge and the judgment which, in its interventions on the sport, will be expressed with the constant concern to respect the rules of the French language".

Candidate at the FFN

With the resignation of Lionel Horter from the position of National Technical Director, the French Swimming Federation, she was. In 2015, she was among the last three candidates of a replacement list established by the Ministry of Sports. The post was finally awarded to Jacques Favre.

Volunteering

Maracineanu took part in the program "Eat well, it's well played!" launched in 2005 by the Sports Foundation. She was also involved in the production of videos aimed at young athletes to teach them the basics of a diet adapted to physical effort, as part of a program of the Sports Foundation sensitizing children to the importance of physical activity.

Political career

Regional Councilor

A candidate on the list of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, she was elected to the regional council of

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

on 21 March 2010 and joined the sports and leisure commission. Her mandate ended with the renewal of the Regional Council on 13 December 2015.

Minister of Sports

In July 2018

asked her to participate in an interministerial mission (between Education and Sports) to find ways to improve swimming in France's primary schools. On 4 September 2018, Maracineanu was appointed Minister of Sports in the Philippe Government, replacing

Laura Flessel Laura Flessel-Colovic (born 6 November 1971) is a French politician and Fencing, épée fencer who served as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports (France), Minister of Sports from 2017 to 2018. Born in Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, she has won th ...

. In January 2020, Maracineanu successfully forced the resignation of Didier Gailhaguet, the president of the French Federation of Ice Sports, over what she considered his failure to appropriately handle sexual abuse allegations within the sport of figure skating, following allegations by retired pairs skater Sarah Abitbol against her former coach Gilles Beyer, a Gailhaguet ally. Maracineanu subsequently ordered a broad investigation of sexual abuse in French sporting culture that resulted in over 400 individuals being accused of wrongdoing.

Minister delegate in charge of Sports

On 6 July 2020, following the appointment of Jean Castex as the new French Prime Minister and a cabinet reshuffle, Maracineanu became Minister delegate in charge of Sports, attached to the Minister of National Education, Youth and Sport, Jean-Michel Blanquer.

Orders and awards

* National Order of Merit (France) *

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(France) *Sports Commentator Award 2009

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maracineanu, Roxana 1975 births Living people French female backstroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for France Olympic silver medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists for France Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Mediterranean Games medalists in swimming Mediterranean Games gold medalists for France Swimmers at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Summer World University Games medalists in swimming FISU World University Games bronze medalists for France Swimmers from Bucharest Romanian emigrants to France Naturalized citizens of France ESCP Business School alumni Women government ministers of France 21st-century French politicians 21st-century French women politicians Medalists at the 2001 Summer Universiade 20th-century French sportswomen