Invited to comment on the upcoming French legislative elections,the gold medallist in the 110m hurdles at the Montreal Games and former French sports minister caused a stir within the Olympic movement.

"I support the union of the right and the alliance with the National Rally (RN)," he said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde on Tuesday. As well as being a member of the IOC, Guy Drut is also part of the administrative team of the Paris 2024 organising committee.

IOC President Thomas Bach was keen to distance himself from Guy Drut's comments on Thursday, pointing out that the 73-year-old's remarks were personal. "It is a personal opinion that has not been discussed or communicated to the IOC," Bach said at a press conference on Thursday. "He does not speak on behalf of anyone else in the IOC."

"We have full confidence in the French democratic system, one of the oldest democracies in the world, and therefore we will work with whatever government the French elect," the IOC President added. In this regard, Guy Drut believes that the election of a far-right government would not disrupt the Olympic Games.

"The Olympic Games will go well," he told Le Monde on Tuesday. "The Munich attacks in 1972 did not prevent the games from going ahead," he recalled. "There is no reason why they should go badly with an RN government."

The immediate reaction from the current minister for sport, the Olympics and the Paralympics in the French government of President Emmanuel Macron. "What a disgrace. The new recruits of the RN are just like him: all inconsistency and incoherence," wrote Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on her social media.