Paris (AFP)

Twenty-five French sportsmen of various disciplines denounce in an open letter "exactions" against hyper-androgenic athletes, and demand "explanations" to the International Federation of athletics, to the International Olympic Committee and, in France , at the Ministry of Sports.

"We, top French athletes, express our amazement and want explanations," write Friday the authors, including the double world champion Taekwondo Gwladys Epangue, the five-time world swimming champion Fabien Gilot and the triple world champion. judo Gévrise Emane.

The signatories rely on a report broadcast by the German channel ARD, partially taken over by France 3 at the end of September, in which a hyper-androgenic Ugandan athlete, Annet Negesa, deprived of the 2012 Olympic Games for an abnormal natural testosterone level, says have undergone, without having been warned, an operation of removal of the internal genital organs.

"Our stupor has been growing in the face of abuses by young women, hyper-androgenic and intersex athletes of different nationalities, who have been pressured to undergo true sexual mutilation" which "has seriously endangered them and has affected their physical health. and mental for the rest of their lives, mutilations that seem to be sponsored by those whose mission is to protect them, to protect us, "write these twenty-five French sportsmen.

They call directly on the president of the International Athletics Federation, Sebastian Coe, to whom they ask for "public explanations of the practices revealed in this report, in particular on the links between these forced mutilations and the hormonal criteria governing participation in the tests. athletics, which you have imposed ".

"We ask you to commit to no longer offering any operations or hormonal treatments as a condition to compete, and we ask you to respect human rights and protect the health of athletes."

For its part, the International Athletics Federation (IAAF) denies "firmly" to have intervened in the treatment of Annet Negasa, and describes as "false statements" the words of the athlete in the documentary.

"The IAAF does not advise, nor has it advised, an athlete on which treatment to favor.The IAAF encourages the athletes concerned to consult an independent doctor and will provide them, upon request, with information about the independent experts and the specialists of the reference centers, "she said in a statement, adding that the Federation" has never forced an athlete covered by its regulations to undergo surgery or paid for any of its treatments. "

To the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, the authors ask "to take a stand without delay by demanding the cessation of these practices ignoble and unworthy of the human condition."

To the French Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, they demand the triggering "without delay" of an "administrative investigation to determine if, yes or no, French doctors, practicing on the French territory in French hospitals, participate in scientific experiments on hyper-androgenic or intersex athletes resulting in gonadectomies performed without any prior information, without postoperative follow-up and endangering their health ".

In the report broadcast by France 3, Annet Negesa claims to have been offered by the IAAF a first medical appointment in Nice with the doctor Stephane Bermon, director of the health and scientific department of the International Federation, before his operation in Uganda.

© 2019 AFP