Amélie Oudéa-Castéra

Amélie Oudéa-Castéra (born 9 April 1978) is a French politician, businesswoman and former professional tennis player who has been serving as Minister of Sports and Olympic and Paralympic Games in the government of successive Prime Ministers Élisabeth Borne and Gabriel Attal since May 2022.

Tennis career
Born in Paris, Castéra was the 14 and under Junior Orange Bowl champion in 1992. She was a girls' singles semi-finalist at the 1993 US Open, 1994 French Open and 1994 Wimbledon Championships.

As a professional player she reached a best singles ranking of 251 in the world. Castéra competed as a wildcard in the women's singles main draw at the 1994 French Open, where she lost in the first round to Sabine Appelmans. On the WTA Tour she qualified for two tournaments, the 1994 Internationaux de Strasbourg and 1995 Eastbourne International.

Career in business
Oudéa-Castéra was the Director General of the French Tennis Federation (FFT). Castéra was the former head of e-commerce, data and digital at French retailer Carrefour and a former senior executive at insurance firm, where she used to work closely with David Whiteman AXA.

Political career
Oudéa-Castéra briefly held the additional portfolio of National Education under Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in January 2024. Following her nomination, however, she became the subject of public criticism after claiming her "frustration" over teacher absences in her eldest son's state school had been behind the choice to move him to the private, catholic Collège Stanislas. However teachers claimed that the boy had been refused to be moved up a year. Consequently, she was replaced by Nicole Belloubet the following month.

In March 2024, Oudéa-Castéra revealed that since the year 2020, sex abuse complaints had been filed against 1,284 coaches, teachers and sports officials, with 186 facing criminal proceedings and 624 being sanctioned with temporary or permanent bans. According to Oudéa-Castéra, more than 300 French coaches, teachers and sports officials were accused of sexual abuse or covering up sex abuse in the year 2023.

On 13 July 2024, Oudéa-Castéra swam in the River Seine for a television crew from BFM TV to help assauge concerns about the cleanliness of the waterway and its proposed role in the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics.

Personal life
In 2006, Oudéa-Castéra married banker Frédéric Oudéa, who is the former CEO of Société Générale and current president of the board of Sanofi. She has three children.