Scandal of sexual abuse in French skating

The French Treasury opens an investigation after accusing a skater to his technician of raping her when she was a minor / The minister demands the resignation of the president of the Federation

Mr. O., you were my coach. I had just turned 15. And you violated me. Words of the skater Sarah Abitbol who has written a book denouncing his coach, Gilles Beyer. La Fiscala has opened an investigation for rapes and sexual assaults.

French figure skating slips into a safe crisis: the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, I summoned the president of the Federation on Monday and asked him to resign. To be contemporary. But Didier Gailhaguet, who has been in office for twenty years, resists.

Sarah Abitbol was 10 times French champion of figure skating in pairs and won several medals in European and world tournaments. In a book that goes on sale Thursday, 'Un si long silence' accuses his coach of raping and sexually assaulting him when he was between 15 and 17 years old. This is, between 1990 and 1992, a period covered by the prescription, for which he does not call you by name.

Gilles Beyer (O. in the book) has recognized, in part, the facts in a statement sent to the France Presse Agency: I acknowledge having had intimate relations with her. Although my memories of the exact circumstances differ from theirs, I am aware that, because of my position and their age at the time, these relationships were in any case inappropriate (…) I am sincerely desolate and my apologies to Sarah Abitbol.

The skater rejects them and announces a second installment in which to expose the responsibility of all those who have concealed him in the club (The Flying Frenchmen) and in the Federation.

Gailhaguet has been leading the French Ice Sports Federation for a long time but was not in the years of aggression. He has been president since 1998 with a parenthesis between 2004 and 2007, when he was suspended by the International Skating Federation for proposing a scam to a referee during the Saint Lake City Olympics.

Campen from France in 1974 and 1975, then an exceptional coach according to one of his pupils, is accused of untouchable and mafia in open testimonies that the French press gathers.

The minister, a Romanian-born swimmer and former Olympic medalist under the French flag, summoned the director to events of exceptional gravity. In his opinion, he will have protected the denounced coach so he cannot be exempted from all moral and personal responsibility.

Three hours lasted face to face. The manager complained about not being heard but said he was going to reflect. In any case, he admits to having made mistakes but not faults. He has in his favor that the accused of rape was the subject of an investigation in 2000 at the initiative of another head of the Sports portfolio, Marie George Buffet, communist minister of the Government headed by the socialist Lionel Jospin. According to the federative president there was cowardice and incompetence. The former minister defended herself by claiming to have suspended the coach although Justice filed the complaint.

It is not clear how but the case is that Gilles Beyer recovered his license. Although everyone was aware of his deviations, he told the RTL station another former skater, Gwendal Peizerat. Many people are silent … and many managers closed their eyes, says Abitbol.

His book has released languages. As another former skater, Hlne Godard She accuses Beyer of having had sex with her when she was 13 and 14 years old. Anne Bruneteaux Y Batrice Dumur accuse another coach, Michel Lotz, having abused them when they were 13 years old. Indeed, the silence in French skating has been very long.