- In the French state, 600 athletes have reported sexual assaults: tennis players, skaters, juices, athletes... The first complaints are from 20 years ago, but many of them are current, 107 are complaints from the 2020-2021 season. 70% were women and 84% were minors. In recent weeks the French parliament has set up a committee to discuss the issue and Tennis player Angelique Cauchy has made statements there.
The unmistakable testimony of Mrs Angelique Cauchy has been heard in the committee of the French parliament. He explains how coach Andrew Geddes did the progressive process to rape the young tennis player 400 times: once he fell asleep at the coach's house, because the coach told his parents that he didn't give him time to bring the young athlete home, "and the parents didn't think anything went wrong." Gradually it became common for the athlete to fall asleep at the coach's house. The first nights were quiet, "I left his room and he slept in the room," but one day he asked a 12-year-old boy "I would tell a story," and slowly spent more time in the girl's room before sleep, and he started hugging, or asking for a massage on his back: "These things got so slowly, because I knew it wasn't normal and I didn't want it to happen, I didn't know when to stop. I was alone, away from home, and at age 12 you're not able to physically and psychologically confront an adult -- less if you're someone who admires and respects, and especially if you think that person can help you achieve your dreams. Those 15 days were the worst of my life. I was raped three times a day."
Psychologically he was crushed by the coach, who made him believe he was infected with AIDS. He explains that he thought of suicide.
Impunity for violence in sport
Cauchy also denounces the impunity of this coach in the world of tennis: “There was a kind of omertta, although everyone knows that what he was doing was suspicious. Because they weren't sure, they told themselves that the issue wasn't about them, but about their parents. But it’s a mistake not to protect children.” A woman raised the issue with the club president, but answered: “Yes, but it brings us titles.”
Andrew Geddes is currently serving the sentence of 18 years in prison, accusing four tennis players between 12 and 17 years of rape.
* In the weekly of 24 September, the main report focuses on the law that has entered into force in the CAPV to deal with the violence suffered by minors athletes and the protocol that has been made available to sports teams so that all sports agents take action and stop ignoring the issue.