The French Ice Sports Federation (FFSG) announced, Thursday January 25, the launch of a new program aimed at better collecting the voices of victims and improving prevention in the fight against violence. Shaken by several cases in recent years, the body unveiled this project entitled “Sentinels” which will see the establishment of “referents” trained on these subjects in each club.
“The first idea is to strengthen the prevention and treatment of any act of violence within our clubs and leagues”explained to Agence France-Presse, the president of the FFSG, Gwenaëlle Noury.
These people, one man and one woman appointed in each of the 160 clubs affiliated to the federation, will act as ” Relays “ between potential victims and the Federal Circuit. “By knowing these trusted people nearby, it can encourage victims to talk, when it was insurmountable for them before. The idea is to facilitate this speech”she added.
Flow of revelations after Sarah Abitbol’s accusations
The representatives will be trained by the Prevention and Benevolence in Sport association, led by Stéphanie Meriaux, an academic specializing in the fight against violence. The federation also works with other structures such as Colossus with Feet of Clay or La Voix de Sarah, the association of former skater Sarah Abitbol. She published a book in 2020 accusing her former coach Gilles Beyer, who died in January 2023, of rape and sexual assault when she was between 15 and 17 years old, which led to a flood of revelations about other cases of sexual violence in skating and other sports.
“The genesis of this project was the observation of the weakness of the system as it is today with only one integrity referent per federation. For us, this is not enough”estimated the national technical director, Djamel Cheikh.
At the start of the week, a parliamentary commission of inquiry criticized numerous failures within sports federations in the fight against sexual violence. Hearing as part of this commission, Gwenaëlle Noury was herself the subject of an investigation for suspicion of false testimony. “I had the unpleasant surprise of finding my name in the press. With all the actions we have been taking for months, I am disappointed and surprised to be in this cyclone”she said.