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Institut National des Sports et de l'Education Physique (France)

INSEP

Flag of INSEP - Image byOlivier Touzeau, 22 January 2025

Presentation of INSEP
Flag of INSEP
- Former flag of INSEP

See also:

Presentation of INSEP

INSEP (website) is a government body supervized by the Ministère de la Jeunesse et des Sports (Ministry of Sport). It has a 34-ha campus located in the Bois de Vincennes, which is administratively part of the XIIth arrondissement (district) of Paris (and not of Vincennes, whatever its name could indicate) and can house 1,000 sportsmen selected by their respective federations.

Ivan Sache, 4 September 2004

Known since 2009 as the Institut national du sport, de l'expertise et de la performance, INSEP was formed in 1975 as the Institut National des Sports et de l'Education Physique, from the merger of INS (the National Institute of Sport, created in 1945) and ENSEP (L'École Normale Supérieure d'Éducation Physique), and has roots in the École normale de gymnastique militaire de Joinville, created in 1852. It trains athletes in 26 different sports.

At the 1960 Rome Olympics, the French delegation won only five medals and no Olympic titles, its lowest level in history for the summer games, which moved public opinion. From then on, General de Gaulle decided to "give French sport the means to achieve its ambitions". In October 1965, he inaugurated the Maigrot hall located in the center of what would become INSEP. INSEP provides the elite of French sport with the conditions that allow athletes to reconcile all the aspects necessary for their development: the "dual project", sport and studies. The site, based in the Bois de Vincennes, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, thus brings together, on its 28 hectares of surface area, all the facilities necessary for high-level athletes, whether in the sports, school, university, professional or medical fields. It also accommodates a large number of boarders. The institution, which hosts a very large number of disciplines, is a major provider of medals for French sport. Of the historic total of 139 medals won by France at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 78 medals, or 56%, were won by athletes training at INSEP or its network.

Olivier Touzeau, 22 January 2025

Flag of INSEP

The INSEP's current logotype was adopted in 2018. It consists of a symbol in gold and navy blue and an original typography in navy blue. INSEP has a strong French identity symbol: the rooster. This has an
original formal style. The original structure of the typography recalls the dome of the Halle Joseph Maigrot, a place full of history and emblematic of INSEP. This structure also evokes a podium, a symbol of excellence and sporting success [source: graphic charter].

The flag is white with the logo: photo.

Olivier Touzeau, 22 January 2025

Former flag of INSEP

Former flag of INSEP - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 4 September 2004

The former flag of INSEP was white with the logotype in the middle. The logotype of INSEP showed in blue: Antoine Bourdelle's sculpture "Heracles as an Archer", present at INSEP since 1953, which had become the emblem of the French sports center; and a monumental gate present on the site which was the entrance porch of the École normale de gymnastique militaire de Joinville (1852-1939), located at the Faisanderie redoubt. INSEP is written in blue below the archer. A red label with Institut National du Sport in white is placed below INSEP.

Built in 1846, under the reign of Louis-Philippe, in the part of the Bois de Vincennes which was at the time in the commune of Joinville-le-Pont (annexed in 1929 to the 12th arrondissement of Paris), the Faisanderie redoubt was part of the complementary works built between the 16 forts of the first fortified belt, located 5 km from Paris. The Faisanderie redoubt is a twin structure of the Gravelle redoubt, which has been preserved, while the Faisanderie redoubt, installed partly on the route of the Eastern highway (A4, built in 1974/75), was destroyed. The entrance porch was moved to be preserved on the INSEP site.

Olivier Touzeau, 6 April 2025