French Ice Sports Chief Resigns Amid Sexual Abuse Scandal

In her autobiography released on Jan. 30, “Un si long silence” (“Such a Long Silence”), Ms. Abitbol described the barriers that she had faced when she had tried to denounce her coach’s behavior.

“Basically, everyone said to me, ‘Take your medicine and be quiet!’” Ms. Abitbol told the French magazine L’Obs. “I obeyed. I took my medicine and I fell silent.”

On Monday, reacting to the claims, the French sports minister, Roxana Maracineanu, called for Mr. Gailhaguet to resign, saying he “cannot absolve himself of his moral and personal responsibility.”

But Mr. Gailhaguet, far from yielding to the mounting pressure, called a news conference on Wednesday during which he denied any responsibility and instead placed the blame on the French Sports Ministry, saying it had allowed Mr. Beyer to continue working despite evidence against him.

An inquiry in 2000 prompted the Sports Ministry to remove Mr. Beyer from his technical role at the federation, but he remained a coach at club level and held an executive position at the federation until 2018.

“In order to resign, I would have had to be at fault,” Mr. Gailhaguet said. “I certainly committed errors, several of them, but I am not at fault.”

But in announcing his resignation on Saturday, Mr. Gailhaguet pointed to what he called the “ministerial dictatorship” that he said had forced him to step down.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/08/world/europe/france-ice-sports-sexual-abuse.html?emc=rss&partner=rss