The technical director of the France gymnastics center in Marseille, Vincent Pateau, was sentenced Thursday to a six-month suspended prison sentence for moral harassment against underage sportswomen he had trained in this high-level structure.
Relaxed for the facts of which he was accused by two of the five complainants, Mr. Pateau was also sentenced to a fine of 10,000 euros by the Marseille criminal court.
At the hearing, at the end of March, the prosecution had requested a suspended sentence of fifteen months in prison.
On the other hand, no ban on exercising his profession has been pronounced.
Wishing such a measure, the prosecutor Véronique Fabron had left it to the discretion of the court.
Neither Mr. Pateau nor his lawyer wished to react after the judgment.
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In recent years, world gymnastics has been shaken by numerous cases, the most resounding of which broke out around Larry Nassar, ex-doctor of the American team, convicted in 2018 of having sexually assaulted at least 265 gymnasts.
After this extraordinary affair, gymnasts from all over the world spoke out to denounce abusive practices, exposing a toxic culture within their discipline.
Bullying, remarks about weight, mockery, rude or hurtful remarks: in the complaints they had filed against Mr. Pateau, the five young sportswomen, all minors at the time of the facts, had described what they were experiencing as an "atmosphere of terror", in the words of one of them in court.
“The methods implemented to support high-level athletes in surpassing themselves must know the limits of the law”, had launched the prosecutor in her indictment, welcoming “that these training methods are entering the courtroom ".
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While acknowledging “errors”, sometimes “awkwardness”, Vincent Pateau defended himself step by step against President Julie Delorme, during the March 31 hearing.
Contacted after the hearing by AFP, he also pointed out the harmful effects of the search for performance and pressure from those around him.
In this same case, a former coach of the France pole in Marseille, Pierre Ettel, will also be tried for moral harassment, on November 7, after the complaint of one of the five gymnasts who targeted Mr. Pateau.