French figure skating has just lost Thursday the one who was at the origin of the tsunami of sexual violence in the discipline three years ago. In January 2020, former skater Sarah Abitbol, bronze medalist at the 2000 world championships, had indeed accused her ex-trainer Gilles Beyer of having raped her at 15, in her book. Such a long silence. He died at the age of 66 on Thursday, after suffering from cancer for several years, announces The New Obs. After these revelations of 2020, the director of the flying French club had been dismissed and a judicial investigation had been opened.
If the facts were prescribed concerning Sarah Abitbol, other skaters had, in the process, testified to the investigators, and French figure skating had then been dragged into a scandal of sexual violence up to its federation. So that in January 2021, Gilles Beyer had been indicted for “sexual assault” and “sexual harassment”, before being placed under judicial control.
Contacted Friday by The New Obs as she prepares a new “Holiday on Ice” tour, Sarah Abitbol said she was “in shock”, just after learning of the death of her alleged attacker: “He leaves before being judged, I would have liked let there be a trial. It’s crazy, this death comes just a week before my show, where I talk about this trauma, the liberation of my speech, my rebirth, and my return to the ice. God has decided so”.