The 29-year-old former athlete, converted into e-sport and consultant in various media, was "arrested at the end of the morning in Paris and placed in police custody in Mulhouse" on rogatory commission, told AFP the city's public prosecutor, Edwige Roux-Morizot, confirming information from CNews.
The prosecutor said that a complaint was filed last summer for facts dating back to "about 2016".
According to L'Equipe, "the investigation follows a complaint from a swimmer who trained with Agnel in Mulhouse between 2014 and 2016".
"Several swimmers or former swimmers have been auditioned in recent weeks," adds the sports daily.
After two years spent training in the United States in the wake of his Olympic titles in London in 2012, Yannick Agnel returned to France and took a license at Mulhouse Olympic Swimming in September 2014. He trained there during two years under the orders of Lionel Horter.
Yannick Agnel has one of the finest records in French swimming: he was double Olympic champion in London in 2012 in the 200m freestyle and the 4x100m relay, before being crowned world champion in these two disciplines in 2013.
Golden generation
The young swimmer was noticed in 2009, at the age of 17, during the euphoric era of polyurethane wetsuits: in simple swimming trunks, he then competed with the best.
French swimmer Yannick Agnel is preparing to compete in a series of the 200 m freestyle at the Rio Olympics, August 7, 2016 Martin BUREAU AFP / Archives
Originally from Nîmes, he moved to Nice where he trained under the direction of Fabrice Pellerin with in particular Camille Muffat, the Olympic champion in 2012 in the 400 m free who tragically disappeared on March 9, 2015 in a helicopter accident.
Its rise is impressive.
Very talented, Agnel is one of the faces of the golden generation of French swimming who shone at the London Games in 2012 where, in addition to his two Olympic titles, he also won a silver medal in the 4x200 m freestyle relay.
However, after a clash with his mentor Fabrice Pellerin in 2013, he left for the United States to train under the leadership of the iconic coach Bob Bowan, the coach of the American legend Michael Phelps, in Baltimore.
Despite his two titles at the 2013 Worlds, he returned to France in September 2014 and no longer manages to add an additional line to his record.
He was thus eliminated from the 200m freestyle heats at the Rio Olympics in 2016, after which he announced his retirement from sports.
After his career, Yannick Agnel notably became a consultant for France Télévisions in 2019. He commented on the swimming events for the channel during the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
He has also invested in e-sport: he is the sports director of a club and, for a few months, an e-sport consultant for Franceinfo, for which he has so far produced a weekly column and a monthly podcast.
He recently published a novel.
However, the radio announced Thursday to AFP: "Due to the ongoing legal proceedings, the management of franceinfo decides to suspend its collaboration with Yannick Agnel until the conclusions of the investigation".
The Mulhouse Olympic Swimming, where Agnel trained between 2014 and 2016, is for his part indicted for "attempted fraud" for facts also dating back to 2016.
Yannick Agnel during the 100m freestyle series of the French championships in Montpellier, April 1, 2016 PASCAL GUYOT AFP / Archives
The club, which notably formed the current Minister of Sports Roxanna Maracineanu, was in dispute with several swimmers, including Yannick Agnel, who went to court to receive the 60,000 euros that the club owed him for his last year of contract, according to France Inter.
maj-ali-es-cgu / lbx / cbn
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