part of his entourage was aware of the facts, according to an investigation – Liberation

Since the indictment of Yannick Agnel for rape and sexual assault on a minor in December 2021, the microcosm of swimming has been speechless. The double Olympic champion recognized the “materiality of the facts” but disputed “any coercion” exerted on the plaintiff, aged 13 at the time and daughter of Lionel Horter, her trainer at Mulhouse Olympic Natation (MON). The facts would have taken place “over the whole of 2016”in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin), a swimmer’s training town, but “also abroad, in Thailand [où le MON se rend régulièrement en stage, ndlr] or to Rio of January”host city of the 2016 Olympic Games, detailed in December the prosecutor of Mulhouse, Edwige Roux-Morizot.

“NOT. told me at the end of 2017 that she had had a relationship with Yannick Agnel a year before”

A survey published this Thursday by the investigation unit of Radio France suggests that several people, more or less close in the entourage of the swimmer as well as the young girl, were aware of the facts at the time, or were aware of them somehow. time after. A former MON employee claims to be “fallen from the clouds” learning about the nature of the relationship in Thailand. As an anonymized swimmer remembers the victim surrendering “regularly” in Yannick Agnel’s room during this stay, others find it hard to believe that the victim’s parents – Lionel and Marjorie Horter, themselves from almost all trips – “could have seen nothing” from what was going on between their daughter and the swimmer.

Other testimonies collected by Radio France tend to show that several other swimmers knew of the intimate relationship that existed between Agnel and the daughter of Lionel Horter. The victim would have entrusted it to several athletes. “NOT. told me at the end of 2017 that she had had a relationship with Yannick Agnel a year before. She told me in a tone of confidence. I don’t think she realized.” said a swimmer. Another swimmer who has left the club in the meantime assures that little by little, “everyone is aware within the club”.

“There is currently no evidence that the parents were aware”

The parents of the victim, however, assured that they were not informed by their daughter until the summer of 2021, two weeks before she filed a complaint. A version questioned by several testimonies collected by the investigation cell of Radio France. A person presented as “a former executive of the club” narrates a scene that would have taken place in the spring of 2019, when Yannick Agnel is in a bickering with MON, who would not have paid him his last year of contract, ie 60,000 euros. The club sends a conciliation letter to Agnel. “Frank Horter [président du MON et frère de Lionel, ndlr] tells me that Yannick would be wise to accept this conciliation, because they have a file on him and his niece, N.” tells the old frame in question.

“There is currently no evidence that the parents were awareinsists Edwige Roux-Morizot, prosecutor of Mulhouse, questioned by Radio France.Judicial information evolves according to the hearings. We’ll see. In any case, this does not lessen the suffering of the victim.

“If the facts constitute rape or sexual assault, it means that there is a significant age difference” between the victim and the swimmer, 24 years old at the time of the events in 2016, specified the prosecutor at the time of the indictment of Yannick Agnel. While recalling that the law prohibits in France any sexual relationship between an adult and a minor under the age of 15, even if the latter is consenting.