The new French National Sport Agency has moved a step closer to starting operations with the appointment of Frédéric Sanaur ©LinkedIn

The new French National Sport Agency has moved a step closer to starting operations with the appointment of Frédéric Sanaur to a new post.

Sanaur, 37, will take up the role of prefigurator of the new body.

As such he will be expected to lay the agency's foundations, finalising its statutes and initiating discussions with a range of interested parties.

The organisation will start its functions later this year, five years before the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Headed by Jean Castex, the interministerial delegate for Paris 2024, the agency is expected, in British terms, to combine the roles of a UK Sport and a Sport England, on the one hand supporting French high-performance sport, on the other increasing grass-roots participation.

Head of the sports service for the Ȋle de France region surrounding Paris until 2016, Sanaur's functions there included acting as adviser on major sports events, including the Paris 2024 bid.

The organisation will launch five years prior to Paris 2024 ©Getty Images
The organisation will launch five years prior to Paris 2024 ©Getty Images

He continued to monitor the bid's progress after being appointed to Secretary of State for Sport Thierry Braillard's Cabinet.

Sanaur then moved to a different role within the Sports Ministry, heading the Bureau for International Relations, European Affairs and Major Sports Events.

A year ago he was named managing director of the French Athletics Federation.

France will be the focus of the sports world's attention in the early part of the northern-hemisphere summer, with the 2019 French Open tennis championship followed immediately by the eighth FIFA Women's World Cup and then the Tour de France bicycle race.