Alice Milliat Foundation

The Alice Milliat Foundation (Fondation Alice Milliat) is a French non-profit organisation established in 2016 as the first European foundation dedicated to women's sport. It is housed under the Fondation du Sport Français - Henri Sérandour and is recognised as being of public utility. The foundation's mission is to promote and increase media exposure for women's sports by supporting initiatives and helping to realise projects that encourage physical activity among young girls, social inclusion through sport, across all disciplines and including parasports. Its president is Aurélie Bresson. The foundation was born from a desire to raise the media profile of women's sport in France and Europe. Concerned by the lack of media coverage of female athletes, Christine Kelly, then a member of the French broadcasting regulator CSA, launched the first international day of women's sport in the media in 2013: the '24 heures du sport féminin'. The Alice Milliat Foundation was officially created on 29 March 2016 at INSEP during the launch of '11 Tricolore, la France au rendez-vous', an event supported by President François Hollande, becoming the first European foundation in favour of women's sport. The foundation chose to bear the name of Alice Milliat because she is a powerful symbol for gender equality in sport. Described as a pioneer of contemporary sport, a statue in her likeness has been present since 8 March 2021 in the hall of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) alongside that of Pierre de Coubertin. Among its main projects, the foundation organises the Challenge Alice Milliat, an annual connected running event since 2016 to promote women's sport worldwide; in the 2020 edition, more than one million kilometres were covered by 10,350 runners between 7 August and 6 September. It also initiated the Fonds Alice Milliat, the world's first fund dedicated to women's sport, composed of medals and objects belonging to female athletes, to be exhibited at the National Sports Museum in Nice and at various sporting events. The foundation also created The Queens Rugby 7 festival, the first European festival of women's and non-professional rugby sevens, initially planned for 2020 but postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Alice Milliat Foundation was born from the desire to enhance the media coverage of women's sport in France and Europe. Concerned by the lack of media exposure of female athletes, Christine Kelly, then a member of the French broadcasting regulator CSA, decided to launch in 2013 the first international day of women's sport in the media: the '24 heures du sport féminin'. The foundation was officially created on 29 March 2016 at INSEP during the launch of '11 Tricolore, la France au rendez-vous', an event supported by President François Hollande, and became the first European foundation in favour of women's sport. It is housed under the Fondation du Sport Français - Henri Sérandour and is recognised as being of public utility. Its purpose is the promotion and media exposure of women's sports practices by supporting actions and helping to realise projects that encourage physical activity among young girls, social inclusion through sport, across all disciplines and including parasports. Its president is Aurélie Bresson. The foundation chose to bear the name of Alice Milliat because she is a strong symbol for gender equality in sport. Described as a pioneer of contemporary sport, a statue in her likeness has been present since 8 March 2021 in the hall of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) alongside that of Pierre de Coubertin. Among its main projects, the foundation organises the Challenge Alice Milliat, an annual connected running event since 2016 to promote women's sport worldwide; in the 2020 edition, more than one million kilometres were covered by 10,350 runners from 7 August to 6 September. It is also behind the Fonds Alice Milliat, the world's first fund dedicated to women's sport, composed of medals and objects belonging to female athletes, to be exhibited at the National Sports Museum in Nice and at various sporting events. The foundation also originated The Queens Rugby 7 festival, the first European festival of women's and non-professional rugby sevens, initially planned for 2020 but postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 2022

  The Queens Rugby 7 festival, initially planned for 2020, is postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• 2021

  Statue of Alice Milliat installed on 8 March in the hall of the CNOSF alongside that of Pierre de Coubertin.

• 2020

  2020 edition of the Challenge Alice Milliat: over one million kilometres covered by 10,350 runners from 7 August to 6 September.

• 2016

  Official creation of the Alice Milliat Foundation on 29 March at INSEP, becoming the first European foundation in favour of women's sport.

• 2016

  First edition of the Challenge Alice Milliat, an annual connected running event.

• 2013

  Christine Kelly launches the first international day of women's sport in the media: '24 heures du sport féminin'.

Non-profit foundation promoting women's sport and gender equality in sport

1. 1Wikidata: Alice Milliat Foundationwikidata.org
2. 2Wikipédia: Fondation Alice Milliatfr.wikipedia.org