A few hours after Alain Schmitt, who defended himself from assaulting his companion Margaux Pinot in front of live television cameras, the judoka in turn spoke publicly on Thursday, during a press conference alongside his lawyer, Me Rachid Madid, in Paris. “That night I was drinking a starting drink with one of my athletes. I had to join Margaux, she wanted to see me so that we could say goodbye. I leave there, I arrive at her place. I had to print documents that were to allow me to enter Israel … “, told the coach before unfolding, according to his version, the rest of the evening.
Alain Schmitt says he then ordered a VTC to return home before leaving to take up his new duties abroad. ” She tells me : “You are really a coward, you abandon me” “, explains Schmitt. Stung to the quick, he replies: “I hope that in Israel I will find a less than 70kg and I hope that she is strong because I will make a point of honor that she beats you. ” Those words would have started the storm. “She jumped on me. She grabbed me by the collar. I backed up, I backed up. She threw me up the doorframe (…) And there, I was a little stunned, curled up on myself. I get up, she grabbed me. And it’s gone in one thing, in all directions. Right, left. We knocked into the walls, into a radiator … “, said Alain Schmitt, looking serious … This public declaration took place less than 48 hours after his release in Blanc-Mesnil by the Bobigny court. After his story, he denounced ” a media lynching »Of which he considers himself a victim since the beginning of the week.
The Olympic champion in mixed team judo, told a little later her version of what happened during the night from Saturday to last Sunday with her companion. ” I was returning from a restaurant with friends, it was agreed that we would meet up with Alain. He arrived later, around two in the morning, drunk Began Pinot.
“Violent remarks” before the blows according to Pinot
The judoka then explains that she went to bed, before being joined by Schmitt. “ He started telling me he was going home. […] He started to say violent things, telling me that my career was screwed up, that I was stupid. I put my hands over my ears, I’m used to hearing this kind of thing from him, it stays in my head for weeks. I feel devalued. He approached the bed, I pushed him away. “
“I said to myself: ‘either you manage to free yourself, or you are dead’. “
According to Pinot, Schmitt then started hitting him. ” He grabbed me by the hair and put me on the floor. I was on my back he got on top of me and punched me with both hands […] I managed to go to the next room. He then hit my head on the ground, several times. I think he wanted to strangle me. He put his hands around my neck. “
The judoka then said to have succeeded in pushing back her companion before ” run down the hall “. ” He caught up with me. I said to myself: ” either you manage to free yourself, or you are dead ”. I opened the door, I ran. We walked into the hallway of the building at the entrance. He held me one last time, I sprinted screaming for help, I called for help. I found the second door, and the neighbors who heard me, opened the door for me “. The firefighters and then the police arrived on site.
“I thought I was going to give up my life there”
” I thought I was going to give up my life there “, Summarized the Olympic champion, who assures that she has never faced” to violence like that in his life “. ” I speak for the women who may have died for such violent acts, who perhaps did not have the build or the mind to get out of it. I am grateful for judo, for life. I see it differently now. I’m sad about the outcome of the hearing », Concluded the judoka. The prosecution appealed against the release of Alain Schmitt.