A sex scandal is breaking out in French sports. In late January, former figure skater and 2000 World Championship bronze medalist Sarah Abitbol published her autobiography, “ Such a Long Silence.” In the book, she described in detail how, as a girl, she was regularly raped by coach Gilles Beyer for several years. This news was responded to by her compatriots, who also told about harassment from the mentor. The coach continues to work to this day, despite the wave of indignation that swept not only France but also the sports world. The details of this story, which, as it turned out, were known in the leadership of the national federation.
He warned, but no one listened
According to the search query sexual abuse figure skating France (“sexual abuse figure skating France”), Google has more than six million links to notes in different languages — and all of them are dated no earlier than January 29. Le Parisien, FranceInfo, L’Equipe, CNN, and the BBC are particularly active on this topic. Here is a brief summary of the scandal in the headlines of these media outlets:
— “French figure skater Sarah Abitbol accused a former coach of rape»;
— “The Paris Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation against the ex-coach of figure skater Sarah Abitbol»;
— “Sexual violence in skating: sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu demanding the resignation of the President of the Federation»;
— “The head of the French Skating Federation, Didier Gailhaguet has resigned over a sexual abuse scandal»;
— “Coach Gilles Beyer acknowledged the” inappropriate “ intimate relationship with the skater and apologized»;
— “The French figure skating coach warned about Beyer’s violence for 20 years, but no one listened to him.”
And if the first five theses, despite the eerie message, do not cause much surprise (in recent years, there have been a dozen such stories), then the final news is out of the general series.
Usually, after many years, the victims themselves talk about this. Here was someone who had not been subjected to violence, who knew and was not silent about it, but did not pay attention to himself.
