CNOSF president instructs clubs to decide the future of Gailhaguet

"It is to the clubs and to them alone that the final decision belongs" on whether or not to keep Didier Gailhaguet at the head of French skating, said Thursday the president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) Denis Masseglia.

"Who does the federation belong to? She belongs to the clubs. It is up to them and them alone that the final decision belongs, ”he said. He repeated that Didier Gailhaguet, called for the resignation by the Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu in the midst of a scandal of sexual violence in skating, was "facing his conscience".

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“He must ask himself two questions: what is best for his federation and what is best for his honorability. From there, it can not remain in the status quo, "said the boss of the French Olympic movement.

According to the statutes of the French Ice Sports Federation (FFSG), the Federal Council can end the president's mandate by a two-thirds vote. This body is made up of 31 members, elected by the general assembly, who are not all club representatives.

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After the accusations of sexual violence of several high level skaters against their trainers, between the end of the 70s and the 90s, the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, called on Monday for the resignation of Didier Gailhaguet, denouncing a "general dysfunction Within the federation.

French sport is going through “a serious, even very serious crisis”

In question, the course of the former trainer Gilles Beyer. He had found a place in the 2000s in his Parisian club of flying French, then in the federation, despite an administrative investigation which had led the ministry to dismiss him from his ranks in 2001, because of his inappropriate attitudes with skaters . In a book published last week, former champion Sarah Abitbol accused him of rape between 1990 and 1992.

The CNOSF is the highest representative of the sports movement. For its president, French sport is going through “a serious, even very serious crisis”. "If there is not close cooperation between the political power, the justice system, the interior, and the associative world, we will not succeed," he said. "There are three subjects: the victims, the predators to be eliminated, and the confidence to be rectified, so that parents do not turn away from the clubs," he added.

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Sexual violence in skating: Why “the emperor” Didier Gailhaguet will not (probably) resign

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• Sexual violence
• Skating
• FNOSC