With a deliberately trembling voice, Didier Gailhaguet evokes "a shock wave which has not only crossed the ice sport but the whole of French sport". Faced with the scandal of sexual violence that erupted in skating, the Minister of S ports, Roxana Maracineanu, asked her to resign, launching the process - an extremely rare fact - to withdraw the delegation to the French Federation of Ice Sports . As a challenge, the “gentleman skating”, this sport so much watched on television, retorts that “his federation will probably not be the only one to be received” at the Ministry of Sports…
"We will not be able to avoid immense reflection"
Beyond the ice, since the shocking testimony of skaters and in particular that of Sarah Abitbol, it is all French sport that trembles. Languages are untied, the veil is lifted over old secrets, rumors circulate and some panic. "It is not necessary that a backdrop replaces another and that we come to say that there are only twists in sport", warns Denis Masseglia, the boss of the French Olympic Committee (Cnosf ). The machine - hellish or not - is however in motion. "Speech becomes free and sport cannot of course escape it," continues Masseglia. We cannot do without immense reflection. "
Especially since society, particularly aware of these crimes since the MeToo wave in particular, will end up demanding accounts from these clubs which welcome tens of thousands of children daily. Some federations claim to have already tackled the problem. “From 2013, ensures James Blateau, the president of the French Gym Federation. We have implemented and disseminated a certain number of charters for all those in contact with athletes. The same device on the side of the Tennis Federation, shaken by the Régis de Camaret case (sentenced to ten years in prison for rape) in the early 2000s.
Sport has already missed too many opportunities
But at the time, French sport missed the opportunity to make its revolution. Same observation, two years ago, when the tricolor athletics was confronted with two cases. "We immediately took action, convening a disciplinary committee, without waiting for the conclusions of justice," said André Giraud, the president of the French Athletics Federation. Since then, two other reports against coaches - in Île de France and in Brittany - have been made. Complaints have been made. The Federation has sanctioned and is working on the establishment of a system that would allow abused athletes to testify anonymously.
These are isolated initiatives, when the situation requires a common awareness. "This omerta must stop," says an expert in the field. Sport is a special world in which everyone stands. This culture of inter-self, because of the prince, will fly apart. Faced with scandals and in a digital world where information circulates very quickly, French sport, if it does not change its functioning, will not resist. "
Associations sound the alarm
At the ministry, which has taken up the problem of sexual violence for a few months, it is no secret that the reports go back at a worrying rate. And the associations which are fighting against this scourge are also raising the alarm signal.
The necessary but so difficult liberation of speech, which is added to the reform of governance which plans to end the interminable mandates - "Imagine a President of the Republic who would be in place since 1980", laughs a leader - and the establishment of parity made French sport tremble. The revolution is on. It's urgent.