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Since the 1980s, some French public policies have viewed sports as vectors of social insertion. Today, sports still seem to enjoy the favors of political and social actors working in this domain. However, sports do not only transmit positive values and are sometimes the subject of virulent critiques. In this context, how are discourses about sports being means of social insertion constructed and articulated? This paper shows that the concept of “salvation by sports” is interpreted differently depending on the position sports hold in the approach to insertion and on the different relations to sports.