Two-time Olympic gold medalist Yannick Agnel has admitted to having sex with a minor but denied coercion, a public prosecutor said on Monday.
Agnel was arrested on Thursday at his home in Paris on suspicion of rape and sexual assault and placed in police custody in Mulhouse.
On Saturday, he was indicted for rape and sexual assault of a minor and released from police custody.
At a public press conference on Monday, Mulhouse public prosecutor Edwige Roux-Morizot said that Agnel “recognizes the substance of the allegations against him,” and added that the 29-year-old did not “sense there was coercion.”
Roux-Morizot also said that prosecutors believe that the age difference between Agnel and the girl, 13 at the time, is sufficient to show that there was coercion.
“When there is a ten-year age difference, this is considered by the law to be a case of constraint,” Roux-Morizot said.
Roux-Morizot also said the events took place in 2016 in several locations, including Spain, Thailand and Brazil.
The plaintiff is reportedly the daughter of one of Agnel’s coaches from the Mulhouse Olympic Swimming Club.
The investigation was prompted after the swimmer filed a complaint against Agnel, claiming he had sexual interactions with her when she was 13 and he was 24.
French law dictates that an adult cannot have consensual sex with somebody under the age of 15. Earlier this year, the French parliament adopted legislation that characterizes sex with a child under the age of 15 as rape and punishable by up to 20 years in jail.
You can see the prosecutor speak (in French), below:
Agnel, now 29, claimed two gold medals at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, winning the men’s 200 freestyle and anchoring the French men’s 400 freestyle relay. He also swam the fourth leg on their silver medal-winning 800 free relay, and was a double gold medalist at the 2013 World Championships in the 200 free and 400 free relay.
Agnel is currently the world record holder in the men’s 400 freestyle in short course meters (3:32.25), and owns the fastest time ever recorded in a textile suit in the LCM 200 free from those 2012 Games (1:43.14).
Since retiring from the sport in 2016, Agnel has made some media appearances on French television and did coverage for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. He was also writing a column and participating in a podcast on the topic of E-Sports, but has been suspended from that role pending outcome of these proceedings.
i love the frence law in this case- sex with younger then 15 yr old is automaticly rape and up to 20 yrs in jail, i hope he gets 15 yrs für it.
Step aside Klete Keller. Swimming has a new villain.
They’re both villains.
Let us hope the situation in France has improved. Ancient history, but the film director Roman Polanski fled the US for France after drugging and raping a 13 year old girl in 1977. He was in his mid 40’s at the time. Been living free in France ever since😨
Fair but Poland & Switzerland also refused the US magistrate request.( it was not a very strongly worded letter)
There are ? behaviours of both genders ;& all orientations on sport teams . Most of the attention has been on coaches , to a lesser extent medical & support staff but none on fellow team members .
damn i actually respected bro back then. smh
I don’t know about the law in France, but with that kind of defense he is socially dead. And his legacy as a swimmer is forever ruined.
Point of clarification: There apparently 2 different people with the “Masters Swimmer” name. I have used that name in comments over the past several years and I would never write something like what was just written above. My comments are always respectful and in good taste, unlike the one written above.
I’m German, we can give consent at 14. I know every girl is different, but I was a child a 13 and so were most of my peers on the swim team. Absolutely never would i have liked to ‘climb into bed with Angel’ (or anyone else) when I was 13. And even if I’d had a crush on the guy, there would have had to have been a fair amount of active pursuit on his part to even think about doing anything other than daydreaming. And as a 24-year-old, actively pursuing a child is just wrong… on every level. Even on the off chance that he’s right, that she was super into it, that she was the aggressor or… Read more »