It is a case of sexual violence against a background of hazing which rises to the surface as an echo of the scandal which has shaken skating and other disciplines for a fortnight and the revelations of Sarah Abitbol - in a book and in the Obs - and those of L'Equipe. In 1991, Catherine Moyon de Baecque, a young 24-year-old hammer thrower, was, with another pitcher, the victim of sexual assault perpetrated by four other athletes of the French hammer team during a team internship. from France, with the complicity of the national coach.
After years of fighting, three of them will be sentenced to suspended prison terms and a fine, increased on appeal. State responsibility will even be recognized for the first time.
However, “CMDB” will never again become a high-level sport. Rejected by an environment that no longer wants it. The former protégé of Maurice Herzog, the winner of the Annapurna and ex-Minister of Youth and Sports, will never find his place in a French sport which takes so little enthusiasm to welcome it, despite his CV (bac + 5). Because of her career, assures the one who, for almost 30 years, deplores "being doubly victim". His words, rare in recent months, shed bright light on certain practices in a world in turmoil.
You were the first to speak out to expose a sex scandal in sport. How did you feel when hearing recent testimony, including that of Sarah Abitbol, who accuses her former trainer of rape?
CATHERINE MOYON DE BAECQUE. I am horrified by these new stories. I am also angry that nothing has been done, that this reality continues. I was the first top athlete to break the law of silence, to wage a historic fight. I won everything on the judicial, sporting and administrative level. But then, the world of sport and politics preferred to protect the attackers - who for some continued their careers in the French team, participated in the Olympic Games - and sidelined the victims by trying to destroy them . I paid dearly for speaking. As a victim, I was treated as a culprit. I experienced firsthand the marginalization, the institutional violence. Today, I have the feeling of having opened the way. And I am hopeful because the recent interventions by the Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, seemed relevant and courageous to me. I have been saying for a long time that the problem of violence in sport - not just sexual violence - is commensurate with the scourge of doping. The news proves me right.
How to explain that, for more than twenty years, nothing has really changed?
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Everything was done to prevent me from speaking. I was pressured, humiliated, intimidated, threatened, even threatened with death. This situation is all the more unjust since the justice system condemned the attackers, as it also noted the State's responsibility in the case. The sports community should have rushed into the breach. But the opposite has happened. I can tell you, and the words are heavy with meaning, that I have suffered much, much more from the way I have been mistreated for all these years than from the aggravated sexual violence of which I was the victim. Do you understand what that means?
Who are the people behind all this suffering?
The culprits are all those, men and women, who have had responsibilities at the highest level. Some ministers made my situation worse, some women were worse than some men. Nobody reached out to me, said that my fight was fair and exemplary. Instead of helping me find my balance, everything was done to make me disappear.
Why not give names?
Not at the moment. I don't want to add controversy to what's going on. I will give the names later. Today, some people may have trouble sleeping. I'm not scared of anything. Many times I thought I was going to die, I wanted to die so as not to suffer anymore. But I tamed my sufferings, I went through hell, I overcame my weaknesses to rebuild myself.
Are all ministers since 1991 affected?
Yes, all of them. Some more than others. A report from the General Inspectorate for Youth and Sports, drawn up before the trial ( Editor's note: which took place in 1993 ) and which I should never have known, concluded that nothing serious had happened . That we were mythomaniacs and nymphomaniacs. But then, court decisions have found the perpetrators guilty. The sports community should have done everything to alleviate our suffering. However, I quickly saw the power of corporatism in this sporting and political environment. It was decided that I would have no future.
And during this time, your attackers ...
(Cuts) Yes, they stayed in the middle. In 2013, one of them ( Editor's note: Raphaël Piolanti. He was also sentenced in July 2018 to one year suspended prison sentence for incitement to doping ) was voted best coach of the year by the French Federation athletics. I have been accused by some of tarnishing the image of French sport ... Can you imagine?
You may understand better than anyone how difficult it is for victims to speak…
Yes, I understand it. I complained only a few weeks after the fact. I first wanted to go and see the president of the Federation (Robert Bobin) , and he said to me: "My little girl, you are young, you will forget! At the Insep, where I was training, the director gave me the same speech. I then understood that nothing would be done if I did not file a complaint. The so difficult journey touches on intimacy and destroys it from the inside: there are interrogations, confrontations with the examining magistrate, psychological expert reports, trials, the difficulty of speaking about it to one's family, loneliness … Then, I also suffered from a lack of solidarity from other athletes. Even if I know it, a high-level sportsman in full career is concentrated and conditioned to obtain results, and does not want to be parasitized by the outside.
Since a new scandal has broken out in skating, we hear very little about the other Federations…
I am not surprised. The president ( Editor's note: of the FFSG, Didier Gailhaguet, who resigned last Saturday ) speaks of dignity for himself and so little for the victims. His little comrades from other Federations had to support him. Obviously, they keep a low profile because, on a more or less large scale, they are all concerned. For what they have done, not done, or left to do ... So is the system. How do you want the victims and their families to be incited to speak, to denounce, to trust us, while those who speak are so mistreated, when the silence of the leaders is deafening? People are scared.
Why is sport subject to such an omerta?
It is a very corporatist and macho environment, with visible links and others, very powerful, underground. Everyone stands. If a person speaks, the others fall on him by reminding him of the files they have on him ... The law of silence is almost institutionalized.
How do you make sure it moves quickly?
The state must prove that it no longer condones this sexual violence. Until then, as with doping, it was, "Keep doing what you want, but don't get caught. For a long time, I have had a list of simple, concrete proposals. I am ready to discuss it with the President of the Republic and the Minister of Sports. It is urgent to send a strong message, to make decisions that are unprecedented for French sport, especially since Paris is hosting the Olympic Games in 2024. France could become a pioneer in the fight against sexual violence in sport. There is a historic opportunity to really make a difference. Provided that the announcement effects are exceeded. It's urgent.
