“My biggest victory is having spoken”: in Aude, former skater Sarah Abitbol continues her fight against sexual violence against minors in sport

In the hall of the Aude departmental council, Thursday November 7, large format photos are displayed. With few words to accompany these images. As for this shot of a child whose hockey coach puts his helmet on him: “You had to protect me.” In the maze of these creations by Tom Barkowicz, a portrait of the former skater, Sarah Abitbol. Sitting, barefoot, skates in hand; in the background, two trophy cabinets overflowing with cups and medals accumulated by the athlete, from the Worlds to the European Championships, in the 1990s and 2000s.

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And a sentence: “My great victory is having spoken.” Her greatest victory, the woman now in her forties won in January 2020, at the age of 45, when her book was released Such a long silence. Where she reveals the rapes suffered from ages 15 to 17: “You were my coach. I had just turned 15. And you raped me. It took 30 years for my hidden anger to turn into a public outcry. You destroyed my life, Mr. O, while you quietly lead yours. Today, I want to sweep away my shame, make it change sides. I am coming out of this murderous silence and I call on all victims to do the same.

When Sarah spoke, I understood that I had been raped

Four years after the media and political tsunami triggered by her speech, Sarah Abitbol continues her fight. To end the silence: “Since I spoke, cases have been reported in over 50 Federations.” “65, today”adds Katia Palla, the director of the association La voix de Sarah, created by the former high-level sportswoman to raise awareness, inform and fight. Katia Palla, also a former high-level skater. Victim of the same trainer: “When Sarah spoke, I understood that I had been raped.” A reality that affects all sports. All territories: on August 18, 2023, the prefecture signed an order withdrawing the professional card of a coach of Soc, the Carcassonne Basketball club, the subject of a preliminary investigation opened for rape and sexual assault on at least two players of the women's team; the Basketball Federation, for its part, decided on a precautionary administrative measure prohibiting the renewal of the license.

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To face the scourge, among the association's tools, this exhibition: “We wanted a powerful exhibition for the general public, because awareness knows no age”specifies Sarah Abitbol. And shocking words: “Phrases from victims or heard by victims. Strong phrases, which can resonate, which could trigger speech.” One of them is from Sarah Abitbol: “Under water my tears cannot be seen.“In the guided tour offered to the president of the Department, Sarah Abitbol explains : “I spent hours and hours in the shower, my mother wondered what I was doing. I fell four times per program, while I was in the elite. I ruptured my Achilles tendon , the first revealing element of traumatic memory: my body said stop. There are manifestations, signs, which should worry parents: in eating behavior, in relation to school.

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But because awareness is not enough, Sarah Abitbol and her association are also working to ensure that the subject is taken up by the political class. This Thursday, November 7, the inauguration of the exhibition was followed by a presentation of the law of March 8, 2024: a text brought to the Senate by the Aude elected official Sébastien Pla, which strengthens the guarantees of the “honorability” of those who will train or supervise minors. In the Gaston-Defferre room, facing representatives of sports committees and clubs, it is as a duo that Sarah Abitbol and Sébastien Pla review the contributions of the text. Preceded to the podium by Hélène Sandragné who recalls that “Child protection is an essential mission of the Department.”

The more we talk, the more examples we make, the better sport will be

A mission for which, its vice-president Chloé Danillon will specify, “we receive 1,500 reports per year. 31% become concerning information after investigation. But if we have any doubt, we must report”. Signal to fight, in a sporting practice which “contributes to an educational mission that benefits our entire societyrelaunched Hélène Sandragné. But it is also a reflection of our society and it has a dark side.”

A dark side that the cry launched by Sarah Abitbol helped to bring to light, by lifting a part of an omerta as old as time. With the law of March 8, 2024, one more tool in what Hélène Sandragné called a “war against unspeakable violence.” A legislative weapon which, insisted Sébastien Pla, must make it possible to “hunt in packs against sexual predators”. With an essential prerequisite: “The more we talk, the more examples we make, the better sport will be.”