The affair put an end to the taboo on the training methods of high-level gymnasts, these teenagers with dreams of podiums and the Olympic Games. By sentencing, Thursday, May 4, Vincent Pateau, coach of the France team, for moral harassment to six months in prison suspended and a fine of 10,000 euros, the criminal court of Marseille drew a border between the sacrifices induced by high-level sport and behaviors likely to alter the physical and mental health of young sportswomen.
The court did not pronounce the professional ban required by the Marseille public prosecutor’s office against the technical manager of the Pôle France gymnastics feminine de Marseille, who had appeared on March 31 after the complaints filed in 2021 by five young residents. The court chose a “penalty both significant to take into account the interests of the victims and sufficiently significant to deter any repetition of similar acts but also gives the chance to [Vincent Pateau] to change his attitude and continue his professional activity..
This judgment of Solomon nevertheless satisfies Mr.e Anne-Laure Rousset, lawyer for four gymnasts now aged 14 to 21, who had filed a civil action: “The court recognizes sports harassment and says that the victims are not liars. This decision will allow them to repair themselves and move forward. »
“You are a big shit”
Vincent Pateau was sentenced for moral harassment on three of the five complainants but released on two others, the court engaged in a careful analysis of the words and behavior of the coach denounced as humiliating and degrading. The repetition of an exercise as long as it is not mastered is not significant of harassment, note the judges who make the distinction between remarks which translate “the hardness of high-level training” and repeated actions likely to injure. So the sentence “I want whores on the beam” or being sent back to the locker room for a few hours are not reprehensible, unlike the order to go back and forth on the tightrope several times with “steaks” – blisters burst in the palms of the hands – under the gaze of others, seated in a circle.
Faced with the judges, Vincent Pateau admitted to having “do bullshit” And “mismanaged things”. But he disputed certain comments reported by the complainants: “You are a big shit, you are weak, a complainer” or “Have you ever seen an elephant do a double stretch on the ground? »
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