He will have to be accountable. The Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, wants "explanations" from the president of the federation of ice sports (FFSG), Didier Gailhaguet, in particular on the maintenance in club of a coach accused of sexual assault, despite measures to his against, the ministry said on Wednesday evening to AFP.
Roxana Maracineanu "will see very soon" Didier Gailhaguet, who "will have to explain to him how this individual was able to find himself in the ecosystem (...) It is entirely improbable that the federation was not aware of the measures taken to his against, "said the sports ministry to AFP.
Charges of Sarah Abitbol
In stories published by L'Obs et L'Equipe , this coach, Gilles Beyer, champion of France in 1978, is accused by Sarah Abitbol, European multi-medalist and world bronze medalist in pairs in 2000, and other skaters than it resulted in rape and sexual assault, while they were still minor, between the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1990s. Facts told in a book by Sarah Abitbol to be published on Thursday ( A long silence , Plon) but disputed by the former director of the French teams and former national coach.
In the early 2000s, on the basis of a report made by the parents of a skater to Didier Gailhaguet, already president of the FFSG (he has held these positions since 1998 with the exception of the period 2004-2007), Beyer was the subject of a judicial inquiry which was unsuccessful, then of an administrative inquiry carried out by the Ministry of Sports, which led to her termination of her duties as a sports technical adviser on March 31, 2001, according to the two media.
The ministry confirmed to AFP that it was then the subject of a measure of prohibition to exercise near minors, then that it "left the manpower of the ministry", the administrative investigation establishing inappropriate behavior but "no sexual assault".
"A network that never said anything"
But Beyer then continued his career at the Paris club of flying Frenchmen - he still appears as "manager and technical advisor" on the club's website - and served several terms in the executive office of the FFSG until 2018.
"It is very problematic," said RTL the Secretary of State for Gender Equality, Marlène Schiappa, wishing "an investigation" and stressing that "justice has been seized" in the Matzneff case. These accusations come after an investigation was opened in the United States on the skater Morgan Cirès, accused of having sent obscene photos to a minor. And last Friday, former tennis coach Andrew Geddes was sentenced to 18 years in prison for raping four of his former underage students.
"There, obviously, there was a kind of network that never said anything and that accepts unacceptable things behind the scenes. In my opinion it is intolerable, "added the Minister of Sports in an interview with L'Equipe . Roxana Maracineanu also recalls that the federations receive public subsidies and that the state delegation can be withdrawn from them, even if she agrees that "it is the atomic weapon".
Sport
#Metoo: Omerta, ostrich and inaction… In sport, France is “twenty to thirty years behind”
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