For two and a half hours before the Paris Court of Appeal, the two judokas fought a final legal battle in this case which took on unexpected media coverage and societal color, after the resounding release four months ago of the 43-year-old coach.

Installed on either side of the aisle in the front row of a room full of journalists and supporters, the ex-lovers are each seated at the end of their bench, as far as possible from each other.

As at the first instance trial in Bobigny, then during their media battle by press conferences and TV shows, the two imposing athletes each delivered a contradictory, muddled account of the events of the night of November 28, 2021 at Margaux's home. Pinot in Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis).

Linked on the tatami by a coach-athlete relationship at the Étoile Sportive du Blanc-Mesnil club, Alain Schmitt and Margaux Pinot, 28, have had a secret love affair since 2017.

To, according to him, flee this "fusional, destructive" relationship, in the words of the Advocate General, Alain Schmitt accepted a position as coach of the Israeli women's national team.

The night of the facts, he must take the plane to leave for this new life.

After an evening with friends, the former member of the France team goes around two o'clock in the morning to the home of Margaux Pinot.

In this intimate camera, the couple argues, insults each other.

Judoka Alain Schmitt in front of the press after his trial for domestic violence, December 2, 2021 in Paris Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP / Archives

“And there, it is the explosion”, relates to the bar Alain Schmitt, shaved head, the muscular torso molded by a bottle green polo shirt.

According to his story, mad with rage and jealousy, Margaux Pinot throws himself on him.

They roll around the apartment and fight through the rooms like a judo fight.

swollen face

The numerous bruises observed on the following days on the two protagonists are explained, according to him, by shocks against objects or walls during this fight but, he assures us, neither has struck a blow to the other.

"She squeezes my head. She says to me + wait, wait, Alain, I'm doing all this because I love you too much! +. And there I take my head out of the embrace (...) and I say: + have you ever loved only yourself! +"

Judoka Margaux Pinot swollen face during a press briefing in Paris, December 2, 2021 Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP / Archives

The president wonders how Margaux Pinot, whose photo of the swollen face caused a scandal and propelled her into an emblematic victim of unpunished domestic violence, could end up with injuries under her eyes.

- "To bump into that place, it's complicated all the same", she is surprised.

- "It's the hematoma that sank," says Alain Schmitt.

Today, the technician asserts that he is convinced that the accusations of domestic violence were "something premeditated" by Margaux Pinot to prevent him from going to Israel, and that their relationship thus ends.

Called to testify, the interested party, her hair tied in a ponytail, hunches over the bar to speak into the microphone.

In a small voice, she narrates an otherwise different scene, a surge of violence on the part of her companion at the time.

"He pulls my hair out of bed. He straddles me, he punches me."

She gets up, goes to another room, he catches up with her.

"He slams my head two-three times on the floor. Then he goes to strangle me."

Alain Schmitt's lawyers machine-gun the gold medal at the last Olympic Games with the French team mixed with questions about multiple inconsistencies and changes in his version of the facts.

"I don't know", "I can't explain it to you", admits the young woman on several occasions, struggling.

judoka Alain Schmitt with his lawyer during a press briefing in Paris, December 2, 2021 Anne-Christine POUJOULAT AFP / Archives

"Overall, what Ms. Pinot describes is largely confirmed by medical findings," said Advocate General Olivier L'Etang, pointing to "evolving" explanations on both sides.

As in the first instance, the prosecution requested a one-year suspended prison sentence for Alain Schmitt.

Results on June 10.

© 2022 AFP