Maintained in Sports, Maracineanu can persevere against violence

• Roxana Maracineanu is now Minister Delegate for Sports, under the authority of Jean-Michel Blanquer, according to the reshuffle announced on Monday.
• The former swimmer has been running this ministry for almost two years, where she has managed with more or less success the files of the National Sports Agency, the CTS or the stopping of competitions because of the coronavirus.
• She will be able to continue her advances in her fight against sexual violence, a subject on which she was committed from the start and which took on another scale after the revelations of former skater Sarah Abitbol.

From minister to deputy minister. Roxana Maracineanu retains her position in Sports, but she finds herself under the authority of Jean-Michel Blanquer, now "Minister of Education, Youth and Sports" after the reshuffle announced Monday at the end of the day. So decided the new Prime Minister Jean Castex. The former world swimming champion, minister since September 4, 2018 to replace Laura Flessel and who had slipped last week that she "of course wanted to finish the missions" which have been entrusted to her, therefore sees her wish answered, even if it will be necessary to deal with this change of hierarchy.

Of all its current projects, the fight against sexual violence in the world of sport is certainly the one that is most important to him. While she had to manage first-rate files such as the creation of the National Sports Agency (ANS), the fight against homophobia in stadiums, the fate of Sports Technical Advisors (CTS) or, of course, the end of the championships with the coronavirus pandemic, this delicate subject was the common thread of his 21 months as full-time minister.

Just one month after her appointment, when her predecessor had estimated in full swing #MeToo that there was "no omerta in sport", Roxana Maracineanu stood out from the start and recognized in our columns that this law of silence "does exist".

#MeToo, a year later: For Roxana Maracineanu, “omerta in sport exists” https://t.co/9mg001pEG1 via @ 20minutesSport pic.twitter.com/eHnkswoVJl

“It's inherent in sport. In some disciplines, to be able to teach the practice, one must be in physical contact with people, especially women or minors. The border can be blurred, not explained well enough, she said then. I would like to help the actors to put the limit of the gesture, the word, the look, the behavior in general, in the right place. "

Before her, nothing had changed since 2009, and the signing by the Ministry of Sports and the CNOSF of a prevention charter and the establishment of a telephone number to free the speech of the victims. The lack of follow-up, particularly within the federations, had not allowed any real progress on the subject. In any case not up to the challenge.

The Sarah Abitbol earthquake

Roxana Maracineanu, in association with associations such as Colossus with feet of clay by Sébastien Boueilh or the Ethics & Sport Committee of Véronique Lebar, is committed to putting the file at the top of the pile. Various actions followed, throughout 2019.

• At the beginning of April, a day dedicated to the prevention of sexual violence is organized, with a dozen speakers and the possibility for the public present to testify.
• In August, the first national awareness-raising tour on this issue was launched.
• In September, an experiment aimed at systematically checking the good repute of volunteers from sports clubs was set up.
• In October, the General Inspectorate of Education, Sport and Research (the future IGESR) is mandated to draw up an inventory of acts of sexual violence in sport, to assess the effectiveness of the actions carried out in previous years and think about the ones to come.
• In November, the minister mobilized renowned athletes (Zidane, Fourcade, Riner, Manaudou, etc.) in an awareness video promoting the number 119.
• Finally, in December, the subject appears on the agenda of the meeting with all the National Technical Directors (DTN).

However, all of this will take on a whole new dimension at the beginning of 2020. Former skater Sarah Abitbol publishes a book ( Un si si long silence) in which she tells how her trainer Gilles Beyer raped her when she was a teenager. The reactions are numerous, former sportswomen also give their testimony. Roxana Maracineanu then summons the president of the Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG) for explanations.

Gailhaguet ensures that he has nothing to reproach himself for and instructs the ministry via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/xXpo8QPJxl

The Minister of Sports and the “Emperor” of the FFSG will then wage a very media-based battle. Maracineanu launches an internal investigation on the federation and asks Gailhaguet to resign. The latter refuses and counter-attacks at a breathtaking press conference. "I did not commit any fault," he asserts then, castigating the "moralizing" attitude of Maracineanu, "draped in his certainties".

"When we have testimony, to challenge him personally or him as president of a federation, he will tell the judge that I am moralistic," replied the minister. When he says he doesn't know, where was he, what planet was he on? Gailhaguet will not resign until February 8, after a particularly stifling week.

"Things are changing, in a very decisive way"

The puffed up a little dropped, Maracineanu sets up the first national convention of prevention of sexual violence in sport, on February 21. Its aim is to bring together all the players in the sports world to work on the causes, the reporting and the psychological and physical consequences of this violence. "This must become everyone's business, and that is a real challenge", explained to us last week Fabienne Bourdais, appointed interministerial delegate and responsible in this capacity for piloting all actions to fight.

"I believe that things are changing, in a very decisive way," she added. We are building things, whether in terms of prevention or action. And where things do not progress as they should, we will not hesitate to question the prerogatives of each other. "

"Violence must really become everyone's business" via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/erUucDLuLb

Last highlight, the “time 2” of this convention, precisely, organized on July 1st. Roxana Maracineanu unveiled - among other things - the first results of her engagement. Some figures announced: more than 2,000 reports of alleged violence received at the ministry (76% of which relate to rape or sexual assault), 177 people accused (from 40 federations), 88 legal proceedings in progress and 16 people currently imprisoned.

"Our mobilization is total and uncompromising," said the Minister of Sports. The new head of government, to whom she had proposed in April 2019 to take the head of the ANS, decided to trust him to continue this fight. Among many others.

Politics

Castex government: Find the complete list of ministers and deputy ministers

Sport

Violence in sport: "Our mobilization is total and uncompromising," asserts Roxana Maracineanu

• Jean Castex
• Sport
• Reshuffle
• Ministry of Sports
• Roxana Maracineanu
• Sexual violence