 Poster: A snowHead
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It is pretty shocking really. Not the fact that a young skater was abused but the cover ups and arse covering. France seems to have a particular problem with child abuse (maybe other countries, I don't know). When our local town hall was hiring auxiliaries for the primary school I asked the mayor if he'd done criminal record checks on applicants, he started ranting about me even having asked the question. Same for parents accompanying school trips. France is about 20 years behind the curve on this one.
I mention this here because the French Skating Federation also controls luge and bobsled, which are snowsports
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Former skater Sarah Abitbol (twice silver medalist at the European Championships) revealed that she was raped, between the ages of 15 and 17, by her coach Gilles Beyer.
Gwendal Peizerat (world champion in 2000 and now coach) accuses Didier Gailhaguet (President of the Fédération française des sports de glace) of having covered up for Gilles Beyer, Sarah Abitbol's trainer . She describes a president of a Federation with dictatorial practices.
"It is a quasi-incest"
Gwendal Peizerat: " The fact that Sarah, Anne-Line Rolland and Hélène Godard are speaking today is very courageous on their part. Learning what happened to Sarah (Abitbol) is a bit like I learned that my little sister was raped by my uncle! What her trainer did was almost incest. I was with my trainer in Lyon since the age of 4 (Muriel Boucher Zazoui) . "she my second mom! The proximity is huge. For Sarah, it must have been impossible to talk about that. "
"Fear dominates"
Gwendal Peizerat: " Didier Gaillhaguet has been there for 20 years. He has already resigned. We are in a system where fear and reprisals dominate the way of management. The one accused by Sarah (Gilles Beyer) was also dismissed by Didier Gaillhaguet but managed to return to the Federation, thanks to the clubs that voted for him. The ministers of the day had asked that Beyer no longer be in contact with young people, because of the accusations against him and the suspicions of mistreatment. Everyone protects themselves. It is very unhealthy, heavy and burdensome. "
"He acts like a dictator"
Gwendal Peizerat: " We have a president who gets the people around him involved in not very pretty cases, or in things where they profit from the system. After that they will never dare say anything against him because that they owe him such or such positions, such or such advantage. He acts like a dictator within the Federation. People are afraid to say things. Didier Gailhaguet is the almighty president, who has all the powers on the judges, the trainers, the skaters, the bobbers, the lugeers, the speed skaters, you either follow the imposed line, or you will suffer bullying, reprisals and frustration . "
" Gilles Beyer was close to Sarah "
Gwendal Peizerat: " Didier Gailhaguet saw and understood very well what had been said by the Minister of Sports Marie-Georges Buffet, when Gilles Beyer was ousted from his post of national manager for problems with young people. And he chose to ignore it and put him in a position where it was responsible for the teams of France: it's about thirty galas over a month. We spend our time on the buses together, in the same hotels. next to us. He was with Sarah. He was close to Sarah all the time. "
"He knows the room numbers"
Gwendal Peizerat: " In 2011, Gilles Beyer was chosen by Didier Gailhaguet to be Team Leader of a junior team which went to the world championships in South Korea. They are far from their families, in a foreign country, in the same hotel for a week. He had all the powers. He knows the room numbers. He is the one who organizes everything. He didn't necessarily do anything at that time. But we knew very well what he had done before. And what he was capable of doing. I ask for a global awareness, of the State and of the Olympic Committee, and an awareness of the licensees and the club presidents. Federation and start again on healthy foundations. "
Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu asked Didier Gailhaguet to resign, after an interview with him in Paris on Monday February 3.
" A general dysfunction exists within the French Federation of Ice Sports (...). In view of the revelations and testimonies that I have been able to gather, Didier Gailhaguet cannot relinquish his moral and personal responsibility, I tell him I therefore asked to assume all its responsibilities and to resign from the post of president of the French Federation of the ice sports ", explained Roxana Maracineanu.
An open investigation
The Paris prosecution has opened an investigation into rape and sexual assault on minors after the accusations of former skating champion Sarah Abitbol against her ex-trainer Gilles Beyer. The affair arose from the publication of a testimony book of the one who was ten times champion of France of figure skating in couple, multi-medal European and world in couple. She denounces there facts which would have occurred between 1990 to 1992, a period in principle covered by prescription, when she was between 15 and 17 years old.
In a press release, the public prosecutor of Paris Rémy Heitz specified that the investigations, entrusted to the brigade of minors, "will endeavor to identify all other victims who may have suffered, in the context described, similar offenses " , beyond the facts mentioned in this work.
Gilles Beyer, 62, acknowledged, in a written statement to AFP, " intimate " and " inappropriate " relations with Sarah Abitbol, offering her " apologies ". The former champion immediately refused them.
In the early 2000s, on the basis of a report from parents, Gilles Beyer had been the subject of a judicial inquiry which did not succeed, then of an administrative inquiry, which led the Ministry of Sports to put an end to his functions as a state executive on March 31, 2001. Despite this sidelining, Gilles Beyer continued his career within the Parisian club of flying Frenchmen, chaired by his brother Alain, until his ouster Friday, and served several terms at the executive office of the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG) until 2018.
Other former skaters have made similar charges against Mr. Beyer and other coaches. Hélène Godard accused, in the sports daily L'Equipe and the weekly L'Obs, Gilles Beyer of having had sex with her when she was 13 and 14 years old. Anne Bruneteaux and Béatrice Dumur accused them of another former trainer, Michel Lotz, of having abused them in the 1980s when they were 13 years old.
After the scandals which have splashed in particular the world of cinema and the literary world, this affair has plunged the FFSG and its unsinkable president Didier Gailhaguet into turmoil. The Minister of Sports received Mr. Gailhaguet, head of the FFSG since 1998, with the exception of the period 2004-2007, to explain in particular the retention in office, in the 2000s of Gilles Beyer, despite the suspicions that already weighed on him. She also asked for her resignation, but the 66-year-old boss of the federation evaded questions about his future, promising to make revelations during a press conference Wednesday, February 5. |
https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/auvergne-rhone-alpes/rhone/lyon/interview-apres-accusations-viol-patinage-revelations-gwendal-peizerat-1782975.html
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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All instructors registered through one of the UK systems are required to have an enhanced background check and to go on safeguarding courses with regular refreshers. If you are a volunteer then the governing body pays for the background check.
Though as the mother of a couple of my trainees used to say, it just proves that you haven't been caught yet.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| rjs wrote: |
All instructors registered through one of the UK systems are required to have an enhanced background check and to go on safeguarding courses with regular refreshers. If you are a volunteer then the governing body pays for the background check.
Though as the mother of a couple of my trainees used to say, it just proves that you haven't been caught yet. |
same for coaching cricket, football, rugby, etc. - all have to have background checks, dbs, etc.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| rjs wrote: |
| All instructors registered through one of the UK systems are required to have an enhanced background check and to go on safeguarding courses with regular refreshers. |
Depends on the awarding body. BASI only require basic disclosure, SSE require enhanced. And also on employers policy, e.g. I use my BASI qualification to do a bit for DSUK, but they (understandably) require an enhanced check.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| rjs wrote: |
All instructors registered through one of the UK systems are required to have an enhanced background check and to go on safeguarding courses with regular refreshers. If you are a volunteer then the governing body pays for the background check.
Though as the mother of a couple of my trainees used to say, it just proves that you haven't been caught yet. |
That didn't work in UK swimming coaching did it, was in the press not that long ago for abuse suffered by young female swimmers. Plus the historical stuff in football coaching for which there's been recent convictions.
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| ski3 wrote: |
That didn't work in UK swimming coaching did it, was in the press not that long ago for abuse suffered by young female swimmers. Plus the historical stuff in football coaching for which there's been recent convictions. |
it is not good is it?
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| DB wrote: |
| https://skiinghistory.org/news/metoo-hits-ski-sport |
that's interesting
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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You haven't been paying attention to gymnastics in the US
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| davidof wrote: |
| ski3 wrote: |
That didn't work in UK swimming coaching did it, was in the press not that long ago for abuse suffered by young female swimmers. Plus the historical stuff in football coaching for which there's been recent convictions. |
it is not good is it? |
I think the key word there ski3 is "Historical" these days most sports coaches/instructors/trainers have to have enhanced and everyone is watching everyone else!
As an amusing anecdote (I won't say the sport); I know of a Team GB coach who has got fed up of traveling the world so now just coaches in the UK, his son and daughter are both very good so sometimes he ends up coaching them. One weekend his son (aged 8/9) hurt himself just before lunch, as it happened the guy I know wasn't coaching that group and the coaches dealt with the injury but the lad was quite upset still, so at lunch went and found his dad and had a hug, all is good.
A parent saw a coach giving an 8/9 year old boy what they considered to be an inappropriate hug as they didn't know the relationship, so went off to find the child welfare officer to report the incident, immediate investigation consisting of her pointing out which coach it was and the boy concerned! Fortunately the CWO knew the relationship of the father and son and pointed it out to the concerned mother....... but it could have been quite awkward had it not been resolved so quickly!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Yup. It has been a massive story here.
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@ItaloSkier, USA Gymnastics was a reasonably big story in the UK. It doesn't really matter which sport is worst, just that the French example given above isn't good enough.
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You know it makes sense.
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They all suck - each and every example is terrible. I was just pointing out that it is an issue in the entire sport so it's not just a French issue, per se, but an sport-wide issue.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Whether it‘s the American movie business, the Catholic Church or in sports coaching, respect to these people for speaking up to this now so that future generations are safer.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@DB,
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Whether it‘s the American movie business, the Catholic Church or in sports coaching, respect to these people for speaking up to this now so that future generations are safer.
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+1
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Been all over the news here this evening, he didn't appear to be very contrite.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| DB wrote: |
| Whether it‘s the American movie business, the Catholic Church or in sports coaching, respect to these people for speaking up to this now so that future generations are safer. |
As above, it's everywhere with these just what the press had so far reported. A financial position reported recently has the Catholic Church predicted to spend 3 to 4 billion to compensate in the USA 
@Marcellus, yes historical, but there's just so much of it that's been suppressed. Not only have the victims had to suffer the abuse but then until recently, had no way of really dealing with what had happened to them. A situation that must have given confidence to perpetrators to continue. Generally appalling abuse of trust in looking after young people.
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