The 2023 Jeux de la Francophonie, also known as ''IXes Jeux de la Francophonie'' (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

for ''9th Francophone Games''), informally Kinshasa 2023 (), were a multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 6, 2023, in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the Capital city, capital and Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-grow ...

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. This was the first edition of the games to be hosted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Originally awarded on April 7, 2016, to

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. Th ...

and

Dieppe Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...

. On January 30, 2019, the New Brunswick government cancelled its commitment to host the games due to funding issues. The games were awarded to

in July 2019. In 2020, the games were moved from 2021 to 2022 to avoid clashing with the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. They were postponed once again in 2022, to 2023 due to delays. Several countries withdrew from the games or sent reduced delegations due to health and safety concerns including team Canada, Quebec, New Brunswick and France.

Organisation

First selection

Among the interested hosts were

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

Sherbrooke, Quebec Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional count ...

and the french island of

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

. After the advisory committee of the international committee of the Francophonie Games decided to support New Brunswick, the Quebec government announced that it was joining the consensus reached, would step aside and support New Brunswick's bid. The games were officially awarded in Paris on April 7, 2016, to

and

as the sole remaining bid. Venues for the games were to include Universite de Moncton's

Moncton Stadium Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium (), formerly Moncton Stadium (), is a track and field stadium on the campus of the Université de Moncton in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, built to host the IAAF 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics. The $17&n ...

, and facilities at

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to award a baccal ...

and

Crandall University Crandall University is a Baptist Christian liberal arts university located in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is affiliated with the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada (Canadian Baptist Ministries). History Crandall University was founde ...

New Brunswick Community College New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) is a public college located throughout various locations in New Brunswick, Canada, including Moncton, Miramichi, Fredericton (its head office), Saint John, St. Andrews, and Woodstock. New Brunswick Commu ...

in Dieppe was expected to host the event's cultural activities. Up to 4,000 athletes and artists were expected to participate. Initially expected to cost $17.5 million, costs grew by 664 per cent to $130 million. On January 30, 2019, the New Brunswick government cancelled its commitment to host the games due to funding issues.

Second selection

The city council of

passed a motion in February 2019 expressing support for hosting the game provided the city receive financial support from the federal government of Canada and the provincial government of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. The

Organisation internationale de la Francophonie The (OIF; sometimes shortened to ''La Francophonie'', , sometimes also called International Organisation of in English) is an international organization representing where there is a notable affiliation with French language and culture. ...

issued a new call on 1 March 2019 for bids to host the games with a deadline of 31 May 2019 for submissions. The games were awarded to

in July 2019.

Controversies

Less than a month before the Games, several teams withdrew due to health and safety concerns. Quebec canceled its participation, while Canada and New Brunswick participated with reduced delegations. France limited itself to a few events, refusing, among other things, to send participants for athletics and cycling events. Wallonia-Brussels only sent participants for cultural events, expressing concerns about the state of sports infrastructure. Some delegations, including the Canadian one, hired additional security teams. The general secretary of the

Louise Mushikiwabo Louise Mushikiwabo (born May 22, 1961) is the fourth and current Secretary General of the ''Organisation internationale de la Francophonie''. She previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Rwanda from 2009 to 2018. S ...

, did not attend the opening ceremony of the games. Against a backdrop of diplomatic tensions between Rwanda and the DRC, she claims that her invitation was never sent to her. She was replaced by

Caroline St-Hilaire Caroline St-Hilaire (born November 16, 1969, in Longueuil, Quebec) is a Canadian politician, who served as Mayor of Longueuil under the banner of Action Longueuil from November 10, 2009, to November 5, 2017. She was previously a Member of Parli ...

, administrator of the OIF. In October 2023 Nicolas Kazadi, the Congolese Minister of Finance, estimated that the cost of the games was ultimately multiplied by seven. According to figures published by the minister, the initial budget of $48 million ultimately reached $324 million.

Participants

Of the 93 member countries and governments of the Francophonie, only 34 sent their delegations.

Venues

Sport Venues

Cultural Venues

Events

Sports

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

() *

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

() * Cycling (road) () *

Football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

() *

Para-athletics Para-athletics is the sport of athletics practiced by people with a disability as a disabled sports, parasport. The list of athletics events, athletics events within the parasport are mostly the same as those available to able-bodied people, w ...

() *

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

() *

Table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

() * Wrestling (African and freestyle) ()

Cultural

* Creative dance * Digital creation *

Hip-hop dance Hip hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop, hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture, hip hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made po ...

Juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

Painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

Puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – wikt:inanimate, inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. S ...

Sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

Storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

* Traditional inspiration dance

Medal table

Final medal tally below.

Medalists

African wrestling

Basketball

Cultural

Cycling

Judo

Sources:

Table tennis

Wrestling

References

External links

*
2023 Jeux de la Francophonie
on X
Opening ceremony
{{Authority control Jeux de la Francophonie Jeux De La Francophonie, 2023 International sports competitions hosted by the Democratic Republic of the Congo Sports competitions in Kinshasa

Jeux de la Francophonie The Jeux de la Francophonie (Canadian English: ''Francophonie Games''; British English: ''Francophone Games'') are a combination of artistic and sporting events for the Francophonie, mostly French-speaking nations and former colonies of France ...

21st century in Kinshasa