Extensive integrity checks for volunteers. Echoing the ordeal of former athletes from the Saint-Etienne gym pole, controls will be stepped up from February in the world of sport throughout France: checks of good repute to fight against violence in the world of sport are now generalized to volunteer supervisors, and no longer limited to professional sports educators.
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“For this to really work, we will have to put human resources behind”
“Even if the facts go back more than 30 years, the words of the victims must be heard at all costs”, reacts the deputy of the Loire Régis Juanico (Generation. S) who has worked a lot on the issue of violence in the sport. “But for this to really work, we will have to put human resources behind. “
As the volunteers did not have a professional card, the legal obligation to check their situation was not systematic. The departmental federations had to bring their files into compliance during the summer of 2020 to allow the identification of volunteer educators.
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An administrative investigation to determine responsibilities
As a reminder, Caroline Jacquay and Morgane André, two former hopes of the France pole of Saint-Etienne, accuses a former volunteer, Robert Colon, of sexual assault and rape in the 80s and 90s. After a night of touching in the ‘apartment of the latter in July 1988, Caroline Jacquay certifies having “told everything” the day after the events, to her coach at the time, Muriel Cavallero (now vice-president of the regional committee of the AURA region) who did not did not wish to answer our questions. An administrative investigation is underway to establish the responsibilities at the time of the facts within the federation.
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“Symbolic” complaint this Thursday
Traumatized, Caroline Jacquay remembers that “Rosco”, the nickname of the volunteer, was absent for a few weeks after the fact before “reappearing as if nothing had happened in training” and “to put his hands again On her as she did an exercise on a low beam.
Faced with silence and omerta, the young gymnast will sink for many years before filing a complaint in 2010 but the facts are prescribed at the level of justice. Another gymnast, who lives today in Reunion, Morgane André, also accuses the former volunteer of having raped him at home in 1990. Long walled in silence, she decided to symbolically file a complaint this Thursday. Contacted by Le Progrès, Robert Colon denied the accusations of the former gymnasts.
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