Who is Morgan Cirès, the skater at the heart of a sex scandal?

A serious misconduct and your destiny changes. The French skater Morgan Ciprès, 28, with a straight path until then, has stumbled badly to the point that his career has come to a serious halt. It is a two-year-old affair that catches up with the 2019 European champion in couple with his accomplice on the ice Vanessa James. As the American daily USA Today revealed, the tricolor champion who trains overseas in Florida is suspected of having sent two photos of his sex to a 13-year-old girl in 2017.

Earlier this week, the same daily reported that Ciprus apologized a few days later via a long letter written to parents. "I'm sending you a message because of what happened with X about the stupid thing I did. It was irresponsible on my part and I really regret my act. I sincerely ask you for an apology, ”urged the native of Melun (Seine-et-Marne). An approach to which the parents of the girl who leaked the missive to USA Today, did not follow up.

Cipr's trainers in the viewfinder

The case could therefore experience new developments both in disciplinary and judicial terms. The United States Center for SafeSport, a body that combats sexual abuse in the sports world and has the power to suspend the perpetrators, has taken up the case.

For the moment, still according to the American newspaper, justice has stood aside. But the parents of the teenager who took lessons with Cirès accuse the trainers of the French skater, John Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana, of having put pressure on their daughter to keep her silent.

Asked, the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG) did not respond. She takes refuge behind the only press release issued after the outbreak of the case and supports her champion. "Without excusing this fact if it should prove to be correct, the FFSG notes that it dates from November 2017, and that it has not been the subject of any complaint to the competent authorities in the USA. Based on the information available, the FFSG has no reason not to trust it. "

Focused on the Olympics and Worlds

Near the skating rink where he started, in Dammarie-les-Lys (Seine-et-Marne), nobody doubts this innocence: “This affair is two years old. Why is she coming out now? Because he wins? Because it scares the Americans, wonders Julien, who has come to lead his daughter to training. We know that this sport is smooth on the surface but below it is rotten by scandals, corruption. This is all very bizarre. "

Morgan Cirès became European champion at the start of the year. Sports Press

Asked on all sides, the skater's relatives did not respond to our maintenance requests. And when does he think? Reached by WhatsApp, he instructed not to speak. But he told us: "Our objectives ( Editor's note: with Vanessa James ) are very clear: we want to be medalists at the next Olympic Games in 2022 and world champions in France in Montpellier this same year 2022."

Merry reveler and hard worker

Whatever the outcome of the case, it comes at a time when Cirès and James, who have been skating together since 2010, were finally reaping the fruits of the enormous efforts and sacrifices made. Le Francilien, who discovered this sport by chance at the age of 4 when he had to go to a cinema session, did not skimp on sunrises at 5 am before school, to go to training. Reputed to be a happy reveler when he can afford it, he is above all a hard worker who has spent thousands of hours jumping, skating, carrying his partner at arm's length in great anonymity. A demanding, repetitive and tiring discipline, skating only offered laurels belatedly to the tricolor duo.

Always placed, rarely winning, they collected their first gold medal in early 2019 by becoming European champions. To achieve this, they went to train in Moscow and then in the United States. They traveled the planet in search of glory, for a few seconds of celebrity on TV.

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"This title is a childhood dream, a pride, a result", savored the skater, six times champion of France with his partner between 2012 and 2018, but who did not put his title back into play the weekend before Christmas in Dunkirk (North). After considering stopping everything in 2018, the duo decided to take a sabbatical winter to tackle at best the last straight line of their career towards the Beijing Olympics and the Montpellier Worlds in two years. Unless this case disrupts plans.