Achievements, talent, passion, commitment… Discover the top 10 personalities who marked the year 2024 in Sète

Découvrez le top 10 des personnalités de l'année 2024 à Sète. – Montage Fotojet

Through their commitment, their convictions, their passion or their talent, they have shone or made Sète and the Thau basin shine in this year 2024. A look back with these ten personalities with different trajectories. All will have left a mark, in their own way, in this year that is coming to an end. The editorial staff of Midi Libre Sète puts them in the spotlight.

Delphine Le Sausse and Simon Caselli, athlete and jouster

Simon Caselli and Delphine Le Sausse

This is inevitably one of the major highlights that Sète and the Thau basin experienced in 2024. On May 13, the Olympic flame crossed the pond to go from Balaruc-les-Bains to the singular island. A huge popular festival took place in Sète, where the disabled athlete Delphine Le Sausse and the jouster Simon Caselli, godmother and godfather of the Sète crossing, each ensured a relay. The winner of the Saint-Louis 2023 even had the immense honor of carrying the flame on the Cadre Royal, aboard a jousting boat. A moment of grace, emotion and recognition for the discipline.

Wolfgang Idiri, director of Escale à Sète

Wolfgang Idiri Midi Libre – NICOLAS ZARROUK

The director of the maritime traditions festival has had a great year. The 8th edition, crowned with success, brought together around 300,000 visitors. Winner of the Mozart for tourism success at the end of the year, Escale à Sète is already working on its 2026 edition. Behind the scenes, the director and his team have already launched major maneuvers with foreign countries to attract their tall ships. Italy, and its sublime three-masted ship, the Amerigo Vespucci, is expected to be the guest of honor…

Sandrine Mini, director of the Théâtre Molière

Sandrine Mini

The national stage has worthily celebrated the 120th anniversary of the Théâtre Molière, over the course of a year full of surprises, emotions and major events. The director, Sandrine Mini, was the conductor. An anniversary celebrated with François Morel, then marked by highlights such as the dance kilometer, the Kabaré Kréol with René Lacaille, the artist Juliette… The start of this 2024/2025 season is another reason for satisfaction, since the Theater is returning to its pre-Covid attendances. “We have everything to be happy”, Sandrine Mini enthuses, worried, nevertheless, about the announced reduction in grants to the world of culture.

Jérôme Barthod, winner of the Saint-Louis 2024

Jérôme Barthod

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

The co-president of Lance Sportive Palavasienne defied all odds to sign the first victory of his career in heavyweight, this summer. It is an understatement to say that he chose his moment perfectly! Jérôme Barthod won no more, no less, than the 280th Saint-Louis. No one saw it coming, not even him. In a Grand Prix that once again offered its share of great emotions this year, the 33-year-old jouster took advantage of the favorites' failures to write his name in History. In the final, five passes were necessary to decide the winner between him and Anthony Principato. Until the Saint-Louis set its sights on Barthod. “Everything fell into place for me. It's magic, it's for life!”, he would say afterwards, barely recovered from his emotions.

Amandine Papin, hospital director

Amandine Papin

In office for just over a year, the director of the Sète hospital structure has managed to lead many projects at the same time in 2024. Amandine Papin is leading the reconstruction of the Pergolines and the modernization of the Saint-Clair hospital (for €64 million), and has tackled other projects, such as the budget, emergencies, recruitment, etc. Convinced by “the strength of the collective” , she intends to place the Thau Basin Hospitals in a forward-looking and development-oriented approach. “We have major health issues in this area. The goal is to always improve the offering, which is modernizing and innovating, for the population.”

Hervé Di Rosa, artist

Hervé Di Rosa

“Thank you for accepting a punk!”These were the first words of the artist from Sète Hervé Di Rosa during his induction into the Académie des Beaux-Arts on June 12 in Paris. An immense reward for this essential figure of contemporary art, master of popular and modest arts, whose museum (the Miam) he chairs in Sète. In his speech under the dome, he shared his emotion and pride, always with the humor that characterizes him. In 2024, Hervé Di Rosa was also exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, as part of the exhibition Le passe-mondes. And in 2025, the Sète native will of course not stop there. Idoles et trésors (2020-2024) is already scheduled from January 11 to March 1 at the Galerie Templon, in Paris.

Sophie Dulin, bookseller

Sophie Dulin

The Sète bookstore L'Echappée Belle, located at 7, rue Gambetta, opened its doors twenty years ago, under the leadership of Sophie Dulin, one of its co-founders, still present and passionate two decades later. Very involved in Sète life, she is also co-founder of the Sète Lisboa contemporary art festival, helping to create bridges with other cultural venues in the city.

Victorien Breux, singer

Victorien Breux

It seems a long time ago that Victorien Breux took his first steps as a singer on TF1, in the spotlight of Star Academy, the flagship talent show. That was at the end of 2023 and since then, the young man from Frontignan has come a long way. In 2024, his tour dates were sold out. Particularly in Paris, where his concerts at La Boule Noire, Café de la Danse and La Maroquinerie were sold out. This is only the beginning, since at the beginning of December, after releasing his first EP with the aptly named title, “Me voilà”, he announced on his networks a date at the legendary Trianon on November 12, 2025. “I dreamed of it so much” he was quick to comment. A former oyster farmer, he is now an artist. An incredible destiny.

Carbonne, singer

Carbonne

His career took off this summer thanks to the hit “Imagine”, which has accumulated 120 million listens on the Spotify platform. Enough to propel him to 2nd position in the ranking of the most listened to tracks in France for the whole year. His “Par nous-même” tour is a hit everywhere in France. In 2024, the success of rapper Pierrot Carbonne, known as Carbonne, is crazy. The 27-year-old Mézois has entered another dimension, he who has long learned the ropes and worked on his freestyles in Montpellier. In 2025, he is notably announced at Paloma, in Nîmes, on April 3, and scheduled at La Cigale, in Paris (April 12 and 17). The first of the two evenings is already sold out…

I subscribe to read the rest