More than 600 reports of sexual violence in French sport in two years – Liberation

According to figures made public on Wednesday by the ministerial unit which lists this type of attack, the vast majority of the facts reported have targeted females.

A figure put on the phenomenon. The ministerial unit which identifies sexual violence in sport recorded more than 600 reports of sexual violence after the revelations of skater Sarah Abitbol in early 2020. In total, 655 people are implicated, including 97% men, in the framework of 610 cases in total, concerning 54 sports federations, as of the end of December 2021.

These data were unveiled this Wednesday during the 3rd convention for the prevention of violence in sport which took place at the National Assembly, in the presence in particular of Roxana Maracineanu, Minister in charge of Sports. “The time of silence is over”welcomed the member of the government, in front of some of the sportswomen victims of violence in the past: the skater Sarah Abitbol, ​​the tennis player Isabelle Demongeot, or the athlete Catherine Moyon de Baecque.

Fabienne Bourdais, ministerial delegate for the fight against violence in sport, reported a hundred cases for 2021 and more “thirty reports since the beginning of the year” 2022. “This subject is not behind us”she commented. “This testifies that this freedom of speech, undoubtedly still relative, is effective” and also that the lifts do not concern “not just old facts”. “The cell is better known and the facts go back more systematically”did she say.

Women mainly targeted

Among those implicated, there is a “significant representation of sports educators”, more than 60% (365). Among the reports, 90% were linked to acts of sexual connotation, and 10% to acts of physical or psychological violence. In addition, 80% concern females. “The boys who are victims are very young, less than 15 years old”also specified Fabienne Bourdais.

Nearly 70% of the investigations are closed, further specified the ministerial delegate. 47% of respondents in cases reported to the cell were the subject of a criminal complaint or a handrail. At the administrative level, 291 measures were pronounced by the prefects. The implementation of the integrity control of volunteers gradually since September 2021 has made it possible to control 341,000 volunteers from 68 federations. These checks resulted in 17 measures of incapacity to exercise as a sports educator or operator.