The president of the French Ice Sports Federation resigns after the scandal for sexual abuse in figure skating

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  Sexual abuse in French skating
  

He clung to the chair, but he ended up resigning. Didier Gailhaguet, the president of the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG, for its acronym in French), resigned on Saturday, after the scandal for alleged rapes and sexual abuse that has been shaking the French figure skating for days.

“For the sake of pure appeasement, I took with philosophy, dignity, but without any bitterness in the face of their injustice, the wise decision to resign from my position as president of the federation,” Gailhaguet announced to the press at the exit of a extraordinary federal assembly. In announcing his resignation, I denounced “the ministerial dictatorship.”

Gailhaguet – who was president of the FFSG since 1998, with a parenthesis between 2004 and 2007 – has ended up giving in to the pressures of the French Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineau, who had asked him last Monday to resign. The minister, a former Olympic swimmer of Romanian origin, denounced the failures of the French Ice Sports Federation for not acting and denouncing the abuses allegedly suffered by several figure skaters for years.

The resignation of Gailhaguet “is a first stage,” Maracineanu said on Twitter, who said the investigations will go “until the end”. “We owe it to the victims,” ​​added the minister.

“Clean the Federation”

“An entire Federation remains to be cleaned, where Beyer has all his friends. Those who have shut up and supported the system are still there,” said former figure skater Sarah Abitbol, ​​the first to report the abuse, in statements to the weekly French “L'Obs”.

Gailhaguet had been in charge of the French Ice Sports Federation for 20 years, but he was not in his position at the time when the sexual assaults allegedly occurred. However, several skaters accuse him of have protected Beyer for years and having allowed his return as a coach despite being aware of his practices.

The scandal has meant an authentic earthquake in French ice skating. Abitbol She was the first to break the silence by publishing a book publicly denounced to her coach, Gilles Beyer, of having raped and sexually assaulted her when she was between 15 and 17 years old. The alleged sexual abuse will have occurred between 1990 and 1992.

Abitbol, ​​who was 10 times French champion of figure skating in pairs and won several medals in European and world tournaments in pairs, also denounced the passivity of the federation in the face of abuse.

Despite uncovering the scandal, Abitbol has not finally filed a complaint with the French justice against his former coach because the facts will have prescribed. However, she has been willing to testify when necessary.

The French Treasury has opened an investigation for rapes and sexual assaults to determine if there are other victims whose cases have not been prescribed.

Because of Abitbol's complaint, several French skaters have accused three coaches of abusing them when they were teenagers. The alleged abuses will have occurred between the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 90s.

For example, former skater Hlne Godard accuses Beyer of having had sex with her when she was 13 and 14 years old. Anne Bruneteaux and Batrice Dumur accuse the coach Michel Lotz having abused them when they were 13 years old.