France’s ice skating chief resigns over sex abuse scandal

The under-fire president of France’s ice skating federation Didier Gailhaguet resigned yesterday over a damaging sex abuse scandal engulfing his sport. “In the spirit of conciliation I took the sensible decision to resign with philosophy, dignity but no bitterness,” the 66-yearold announced after a meeting of the federation’s federal council in Paris.

His resignation after nearly two decades in charge comes as French ice skating reels from claims of rape against a former national coach, Gilles Beyer. In an autobiography published on January 30, former world championship bronze medallist Sarah Abitbol accused Beyer of raping her several times from 1990 to 1992 when she was between the ages of 15 and 17.

That bombshell claim led to further accusations of assault. Skater Helene Godard, accused Beyer, 62, and another coach Jean-Roland Racle of sexual abuse when she was a minor. And sports daily L’Equipe reported that the mother of another young skater claimed that Beyer sexually harassed and blackmailed her in 2017 and 2018 in return for coaching her daughter.

Gailhaguet had initially refused calls from Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu to move aside, telling a news conference on Wednesday that he had “absolutely not protected Gilles Beyer”. “I found out about 90 percent of these incidents in the press and in a book... 10 days ago,” he said.