He is not a top athlete, but his life is like a marathon. One day in Six-Fours, the other in Paris, the next in Switzerland or Perpignan… Olivier Remini never stops moving, in France and beyond.
In recent years, his engineering and technology consulting business, Fortil, has grown significantly. Established in eight countries and with 17 agencies in France, the group could achieve nearly 190 million euros in turnover in 2024.
So, obviously, when you’re at the head of such a machine, you have to know how to escape… A little. In this case, the 42-year-old entrepreneur has largely found his way out. “I run a lot. I’m an early sleeper, and therefore an early riser…”, smiled the Revest child. And to add: “I would love to do team sports, but schedules are a problem.”
In the morning, it’s around 4:15 a.m. that Olivier Remini puts on sneakers. “What I love is running in the city. I do between three and six cities a week. Recently, I ran in Tunis (Tunisia), then, the next day, I did my sport in the snow , in Geneva (Switzerland). I love smelling the city in the morning. It’s like a museum.”
“Sport is what keeps me going”
Currently, the Varois is even preparing the Paris marathon, with around forty collaborators. “We’re repeating the experience. It’s a great collective moment.” He therefore assures it, without any hesitation: sport is his driving force. “Among the engineers at Fortil, when our brain can no longer swallow, that’s what will keep us winded. In terms of energy, it’s a complement. Sport is what keeps me going .”
Suffice to say that, when he learned of his selection to carry the Paris 2024 Olympic flame in the Var, on May 10, there was emotion: “I learned that I was selected by reading the newspaper. It was a little moving because my name was attached to that of Guillaume Mélenchon, a childhood friend, and a man who literally sacrificed his body for rugby in the French team.”
No doubt he also had a thought for his grandmother, Madeleine Gravil, former holder of the national record for the women’s 800 meters. “She had also participated in the University Olympic Games, just before the war. But she didn’t talk about it much. She mainly talked about travel memories and always said that, if the day before the race, she hadn’t eaten any fries, she would have had the gold and not money (laughs).”
Tournaments abroad, “the Olympic spirit”
During his childhood, Olivier Remini lived for a long time with his grandmother Madeleine. She passed on the values to him “education and sharing” inherent to sport. He partly spent his youth on the green rectangle, with a round ball between his feet. His Olympic Games were the international tournaments played in Spain or Italy. “We came from Revest, a village, and we met Argentinians, Venezuelans, Africans, people from the East… It was an exceptional multicultural meeting, with a sort of Olympic spirit.”
A sign of a good level, the current president of Fortil even played, in 2004, a final of the French university engineering championship. Before getting closer to the oval. “I really enjoyed following the RCT, especially at the time of Pro D2. I even made the trips!”rembobine-t-il.
Praise of the “amateur spirit”
And then, of course, there were the Games. Those of Atlanta, in 1996, constituted his first Olympic emotions. “That’s when I understood that sport had passed a milestone. Even if what I’m looking for are disciplines that are still closer to the amateur spirit. In table tennis, when I read the story of the Lebrun brothers transports me.”
Let’s hope that he is just as transported during these 2024 Olympics. On the scene of the events, or in front of his TV. “We took places, but it’s still complicatedhe explains. It’s expensive and there are people who want it. I prefer to invite customers.”
His big meeting will therefore be in the spring. All you have to do is wait for the exact time and location. The porter’s outfit has already been ordered. “They took my waistline”, jokes the entrepreneur, putting on a running t-shirt over his shirt for the photo. Like a symbol.
Engaged with local clubs
Olivier Remini likes to match words with actions. A lover of sport and his region, the Varois first got involved with FC Revestois, the club of his youth. As patron, then as president.
Locally, he also sponsors the RCT and chairs GO2R, a Revest association dedicated to well-being and maintaining physical fitness.
Then, alongside, it remains an important partner of the Seynoise Sports Union, within which it promotes inclusion and education through rugby: “We supported our societal and CSR policy around the USS. We mainly finance the Mêlée et crampons project, which offers dozens of children homework help and sporting or cultural outings.”