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A shocking and scandalous case shakes Brazilian sport. Former coach of the Brazilian national gymnastics team, Fernando de Carvalho Lopeswas tried and sentenced this Tuesday to 109 years and eight months in prison after being found guilty of the rape of four athletesamong which there are at least a minor.
The former coach of the Brazilian gymnastics team was sentenced in the first instance on Monday by a court in the city of São Bernardo do Campoclose to Saint Paulas reported by the media Globe Sports.
Carvalho Lopes will appeal to the court because is considered innocent of the charge that is imputed to him, so he can wait for the appeal in freedom. The Brazilian coach was convicted of sexually assaulting four athletes, one of whom was 13 years old at the time of the eventsexpanded the Brazilian newspaper, which did not specify the ages of the other victims.
The situation of the accused is compromising and there is a wave of complaints against him: four years ago, 42 athletes claimed to have been victims of moral, physical or sexual abuse of the coach in a journalistic investigation of the program Fantasticfrom the television The globe.
Some of them participate in the judicial process as witnesses of events that would have occurred between 1999 and 2016when Carvalho Lopes ran the MESC club in Sao Bernardo do Campo.
The coach was a trainer of young gymnasts for two decades and was cut from the Brazilian national team a month before the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympicsafter the complaint of the parents of one of his alleged victims.
The man was part of the Brazilian representative’s working group between 2014 and 2016, when he was training Diego Hypolitowinner of the silver medal in Rio, explained to the agency AFP a source from the Brazilian Gymnastics Confederation.
The Olympic athlete assured at the time that he was not a victim of abuse, but as a result of the wave of stories he supported the complainants.
In April 2019, the Superior Tribunal de Justicia del Deporte (STJD) disqualifies Carvalho Lopes for life to carry out any activity related to sport. This first instance sentence confirms the aberrant events that have shaken Brazilian gymnastics in recent years.
Sex scandals in gymnastics worldwide
The case of Carvalho Lopes is not an isolated event in sports and it is worth reviewing other events involving outstanding athletes.
In USA, Larry Nassara former doctor for the national gymnastics team, was jailed for life for having sexually assaulted for decades to less 265 high level gymnastsincluding the legend Simone Biles.
In Great Britain, Greece, Australia or New Zealand there were more athletes who reported different types of abuse by coaches.
*With information from AFP
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