For several months, cases of abuse have shaken world gymnastics.
It is in this context that new revelations in France are taking place.
A gymnastics coach, technical director of the Pôle France de Marseille, a high-level structure, will be tried in October for acts of "moral harassment" denounced by five young girls, the Marseille prosecutor's office said on Wednesday.
The alleged victims accuse Vincent Pateau, according to the newspaper L'Equipe which revealed the information on Tuesday, of humiliating remarks and "mistreatment" in the words of certain parents of the young girls concerned in the sports daily, one of them denouncing “a real endangerment”.
Following a preliminary investigation, the Marseille prosecutor's office ordered Vincent Pateau's referral to the criminal court on April 7.
The hearing was finally postponed to October 13, said the prosecution, adding that "as it is a preliminary investigation, it is not possible to know at this stage whether the young girls and their families will be civil parties. at the hearing”.
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Another coach auditioned
The prosecution also informed AFP that a separate hearing will be held the same day concerning another Pole coach, Pierre Ettel, for acts of moral harassment of a 15-year-old minor, concerning a single gymnast.
No comment could be immediately obtained from the French Gymnastics Federation.
Cases of abuse have shaken world gymnastics for several months, to the point that the International Federation adopted a new code of conduct in June to protect gymnasts against abusive practices.
In France, another female gymnastics training structure similar to that of Marseille, the Pôle France de Saint-Étienne, was recently at the heart of an investigation into rapes and sexual assaults committed in the 1980s and 90s. Due to the suspect's advanced age, 80, and his state of health, the investigation was closed.
