Frenchman Trochet lighting the Olympic flame for Flag football

PARIS: The lessons that a 20-year-old Pierre Trochet learned when a business he started up “crashed” served him well, as within two decades he succeeded in securing Flag football a coveted spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The President of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) -- who at 37 is now the youngest head of an Olympic sport federation -- told AFP the inclusion in the 2028 Games means the sport has “finished the whole teenager stuff and is now at the university stage”.

Flag football is the non-contact form of gridiron, played by teams of five players. Trochet, an urbane Frenchman, says he and his team are looking at new opportunities which should open up now they have the brand of being an Olympic sport -- a “game changer” in terms of attracting sponsors and finance.

Trochet, who was elected unopposed in 2021, says constantly looking at new ways to develop is made easier due to the federation not being weighed down by history, as it is just 25 years old. “It is now time for us to look at new opportunities,” he told AFP on Friday on the eve of his 74-member federation´s congress in Paris.

“We have finished the whole teenager stuff, we are Google in the garage trying to set up a start-up for sports. It is university time.” The former offensive lineman -- he had spells with the Amiens Spartans in France and then the Austrian franchise Danube Dragons -- knows only too well the pitfalls of going too fast, too soon.

“I was 20 years old and despite my father´s advice I decided to go into tech and not business school,” he said. “I had a tiny company in Burgundy to create a hotspot in every room of a hotel.

“It was working quite good and I thought ´hey I am a successful guy, let´s go!´ (But) the company crashes! “I dealt with everything and people said ´well that is the cost of your business school´. It was definitely the cost as I had to pay for the losses!