Does french figure skating have a culture of rape ? FFSG in the storm

[Viscaro]

From what I understand there probably will be a delegation if the FFSG does not back down, but not from the FFSG. I think this is what the talks about the French Olympic Comitee are about right ?

I am surprised by the FFSG and DG. Covering sexual abuse for years it at another level of evil. The full support they had for Cipres in hindsight should have been another clue. I hope the French Minister does not back down. She is right to hold them accountable.

 

[Vagabond]

Boy am I feeling badly for Aymoz and P/C, both of whom are possible/lock medal contenders in Montreal. I wonder if the Sports Minister will wait to strip the Federation of its official status until after Montreal.

I wonder if there might not be something worked out akin to what is going to happen for Russian athletes, i.e., they will be treated as "independent athletes," provided that they can demonstrate in some fashion that they are not part of the vast exploitative konspiracy. (That might keep James & Ciprès out but let in just about every other currently active French skater.)

 

[Primorskaya]

Actually, the reason this seems really weird to me is I'm pretty sure I remember that DG took against Joubert and tried to derail his career at least once! But abusers groom their victims, and DG may never have committed a sexual assault but he's been committing psychological warfare against French skaters for years and that's its own kind of abuse (I'll never forget that video clip where P/C found out that he had banned their coach from going to Euros with them in their first year as Seniors...they looked so defeated, so early on in their careers, it was obvious they knew exactly what was happening and why). So who knows what the situation looks like from Joubert's vantage point? He may be seeing what DG wants him to see.

ETA: Just seen this: there's apparently a possibility for French skaters to go to Worlds under the aegis of the French Olympic Committee, but if they do it will be without any Federation support (i.e. funding and so on, I presume).

Well it's one strategy of master manipulators to not only blow hot and cold with the same person, but also to make sure they keep some people "unharmed", removed from the eye of the storm, so as to always have witnesses ready to say "I don't understand all this, he's always been super friendly with me" etc...

 

[overedge]

ETA: Didier complains the minister didn't listen to him. Poor Didier, the real victim here, really https://www.ledauphine.com/sport/20...s-sports-demande-a-gailhaguet-de-demissionner

I guess Didier is so used to people jumping to do whatever he wants that it was a shock when someone refused to believe his . Especially a woman with more power than him!! What is wrong with the world

 

[PRlady]

Didier is having a press conference on Wednesday according to Hersh. On my amazingly long list of people I'm glad I don't have to do PR for....

Philip Hersh on Twitter

“French minister of sport asks Didier Gailhaguet to resign as president of French Ice Sports Federation. Gailhaguet says he will think about it and have a press conference Wednesday. https://t.co/j6imtyvGch”

twitter.com

 

[victorskid]

Phil also talks about the precedent of the Olympic Committee run things as an interim measure if the federation is decertified: https://twitter.com/olyphil/status/1224415837974646787

 

[pat c]

Phil also talks about the precedent of the Olympic Committee run things as an interim measure if the federation is decertified: https://twitter.com/olyphil/status/1224415837974646787

Well that's a relief. The athletes can go about their lives, keep training and hope at the end of this that things will be better in France.

 

[nimi]

I really hope she'll follow through (and prove Candeloro wrong). And that this time Gailhaguet won't come back (which was Peizerat's concern in the interview I posted: "Didier Gailhaguet has already been forced to resign. It's happened before. He was forced to resign in 2004. Now, the minister is not going to make him ineligible. The only ones who can prevent his return, because he has already returned several times, are the club presidents.")

Video clip of Maracineanu's announcement & some additional info in this thread:

Naa on Twitter

“The Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu, has asked Didier Gailhaguet to resign from his position & announced a withdrawal of the state delegation from the FFSG (it sounds like a decertification/defunding of the FFSG but I'm not familiar with the term) #SkatingSurvivors https://t.co/q1TtcYuo8I”

twitter.com

According to a twitter user who works in sports law: in the event of decertification, FFSG can no longer receive state aid and affiliated clubs lose their accreditation as well, and thus the possibility of receiving state aid & municipal subsidies. I guess this means the club presidents have a strong financial incentive to kick Didier out (if he refuses to resign) in order to avoid decertification?

J-C Breillat on Twitter

“@bbarbusse @DidierKilkenny @jbguegan @RoxaMaracineanu En cas de retrait d'agrément : 1) la délégation tombe automatiquement 2) la FFSG ne peut plus percevoir d'aides de l'Etat (CO+CTS) 3) Les clubs affiliés perdent leur agrément et donc la possibilité de percevoir des aides de l'Etat (+ en...

twitter.com

 

[text_skate]

AFAIR Joubert supported G. over Peizerat, when G. ran for president for FFSG.

For me the most disturbing thing in this is, that G. has so many supporters in the fed. This is very disturbing. I guess he has supporters in politics, too. Otherwise no-one could run a system like that for decades.

IMO G. removing himself from top of FFSG can only be a first step.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

AFAIR Joubert supported G. over Peizerat, when G. ran for president for FFSG.

For me the most disturbing thing in this is, that G. has so many supporters in the fed. This is very disturbing. I guess he has supporters in politics, too. Otherwise no-one could run a system like that for decades.

IMO G. removing himself from top of FFSG can only be a first step.

Time to "nettoyer la merde".

 

[Vagabond]

Videz le marais!

 

[ChelleC]

I just screamed in joy when I read Hersh's posts on Twitter.

 

[MarieM]

The person who posted the untrue news that french athletes would not be able to attend worlds as "France Team" won't back down.
But she's wrong. Hersh isn't.

 

[LeafOnTheWind]

Since current athletes can compete at events I say it's past time to go nuclear.

 

[Orm Irian]

Well it's one strategy of master manipulators to not only blow hot and cold with the same person, but also to make sure they keep some people "unharmed", removed from the eye of the storm, so as to always have witnesses ready to say "I don't understand all this, he's always been super friendly with me" etc...

A couple of other people on Twitter have also pointed out that as DG has not yet resigned, and even Candeloro thinks he'll never jump until he's pushed, Joubert may be trying to protect the careers/opportunities of Adam Siao Him Fa and Lea Serna.

 

[Primorskaya]

A couple of other people on Twitter have also pointed out that as DG has not yet resigned, and even Candeloro thinks he'll never jump until he's pushed, Joubert may be trying to protect the careers/opportunities of Adam Siao Him Fa and Lea Serna.

Hm. I think he's putting himself on the wrong side of history regardless. You just can't ignore that many people speaking up, after a while, if you're in good faith, you start reassessing what you thought was true.

 

[MarieM]

The thing is that Didier G. also did good things, very good things. It's hard to reconcile the man before 2002 and the man he has become since then.

 

[MsZem]

The thing is that Didier G. also did good things, very good things. It's hard to reconcile the man before 2002 and the man he has become since then.

I'm less familiar with his earlier work, what were the positives?

 

[Braulio]

I'm less familiar with his earlier work, what were the positives?

Agree, I would like to know about it too

 

[Desperado]

Is Lea Serna the poor girl who had a bad FS at Europeans whom Joubert sat next to in the K&C, treating like she didn't exist, offering no support what so ever? I felt so bad for her. I think that behavior tells a lot about how much he cares about his skaters.

 

[mattiecat13]

I don't think it's a bid. I think they were awarded the Worlds after Stockholm. 2022. (Can anyone confirm?)

You are correct. Montpellier will host Worlds in 2022.

 

[Orm Irian]

Is Lea Serna the poor girl who had a bad FS at Europeans whom Joubert sat next to in the K&C, treating like she didn't exist, offering no support what so ever? I felt so bad for her. I think that behavior tells a lot about how much he cares about his skaters.

I don't think that necessarily means much. Some coaches just don't seem comfortable reacting naturally when their student has had a bad day on the ice and is miserable and they're also acutely aware that they're on camera. Have a look at the kiss and cry after Diana Nikitina bombed her SP at Euros so badly a couple of years ago that she could hardly breathe for weeping in the aftermath if you want to see a highly unedifying example of just such a phenomonon - and I don't recall anyone ever claiming that Lambiel doesn't care about his students.

Off topic diversion over for the moment.

 

[Bill Trenary]

The thing is that Didier G. also did good things, very good things. It's hard to reconcile the man before 2002 and the man he has become since then.

I'm less familiar with his earlier work, what were the positives?

Lying about Surya Bonaly's past?

Surya Bonaly 1993 Worlds fluff

Silver medal - Prague / Czech Republic

www.youtube.com

 

[Nmsis]

Did those two dudes swap girlfriends not just once, but twice?!

Yep.
And one is on french tv doing the commentary (Annick Dumont) and the other (Katia Krier) appears for 10 seconds on tv for each french skater (that she doesn't coach) at the ISU championships.

 

[canbelto]

This is just so horrible I have no words for it.

 

[starrynight]

Credit to the Sports Minister for putting her foot down. It’s kind of rare to see anyone being that decisive.

 

[MsZem]

Is Lea Serna the poor girl who had a bad FS at Europeans whom Joubert sat next to in the K&C, treating like she didn't exist, offering no support what so ever? I felt so bad for her. I think that behavior tells a lot about how much he cares about his skaters.

I don't think that necessarily means much. Some coaches just don't seem comfortable reacting naturally when their student has had a bad day on the ice and is miserable and they're also acutely aware that they're on camera. Have a look at the kiss and cry after Diana Nikitina bombed her SP at Euros so badly a couple of years ago that she could hardly breathe for weeping in the aftermath if you want to see a highly unedifying example of just such a phenomonon - and I don't recall anyone ever claiming that Lambiel doesn't care about his students.

Off topic diversion over for the moment.

OT indeed but Joubert doesn't seem to be a demonstrative coach in the K&C regardless of what the skaters he works with do. IIRC he looked about the same with Adam Siao Him Fa, and Adam had an excellent free skate. Maybe that's not right for Lea Serna, but that's really for her to say. I do hope that she's usually happy with her training and skating. At this point it's hard not to question what you see when it comes to the French skaters

 

[cheremary]

FWIW, in that Europe1 article linked above, while Joubert did say DG was like a second father to him, he also called the skaters’ testimonies very courageous and called for justice to be done so that a good image to the sport can be restored. I think the headline just made it seem like he only spoke in support of DG.

IIRC, DG helped Joubert during several coaching changes (I believe he brought Andrei Berenzitsev to Poitiers after Joubert and Véronique Guyon parted ways). I’m sure there are other examples of this, but I can believe Joubert would’ve appreciated DG’s support during his career while also wanting justice to be served in this situation.

 

[nimi]

Another former skater speaks out in support of Abitbol and tells about her own experiences of having to put up with Beyer's inappropriate touching and comments for years:

La patineuse Laure Detante accuse elle aussi l'entraîneur Gilles Beyer d'attouchements

Tout comme Sarah Abitbol, Laure Detante a été entraînée par Gilles Beyer, pendant des années. Et elle aussi a subi des attouchements. Elle témoigne pour RMC Sport.

rmcsport.bfmtv.com

 

[Primorskaya]

FWIW, in that Europe1 article linked above, while Joubert did say DG was like a second father to him, he also called the skaters’ testimonies very courageous and called for justice to be done so that a good image to the sport can be restored. I think the headline just made it seem like he only spoke in support of DG.

IIRC, DG helped Joubert during several coaching changes (I believe he brought Andrei Berenzitsev to Poitiers after Joubert and Véronique Guyon parted ways). I’m sure there are other examples of this, but I can believe Joubert would’ve appreciated DG’s support during his career while also wanting justice to be served in this situation.

I hadn't seen the whole article. I'm glad to hear he's being supportive!