This week, the judokate of the French team trained at the Pont-l’Abbé-d’Arnoult club told our colleagues at “L’Équipe magazine” that this is a shocking new testimony to the violence against women ( near Saintes), Chloé Buttigieg. “My father beat me with everything he could get his hands on,” describes the 26-year-old athlete. Once, when I was 9, he hit me with a slat from the box spring to make me get on my knees, but I didn’t want to. The slat broke, he went to get another one…
This week, the judokate of the French team trained at the Pont-l’Abbé-d’Arnoult club told our colleagues at “L’Équipe magazine” that this is a shocking new testimony to the violence against women ( near Saintes), Chloé Buttigieg. “My father beat me with everything he could get his hands on,” describes the 26-year-old athlete. Once, when I was 9, he hit me with a slat from the box spring to make me get on my knees, but I didn’t want to. The slat broke, he went to get another one, he kept repeating: “You’re going to beg me to stop.” » And he hit behind the knees so that I bend. He was trying to break me. I’m often told that I’m ugly, but when I was little, he used to tell me, “Stop smiling, you look like a female dog.” » He kept telling us that we were shit, failures. When I lost a competition, it was anguish. In juniors (12-13 years old), after a defeat, he told me: “You have to stop, you’re rubbish. When I see you, I regret fucking your mother that day. I would have done better to buy a horse; at least he would have won races. » He also repeated to me: “I am your father, I gave you life, I can take it away from you. » That’s a lot of bad memories. Lots of stuff buried. » A series of violence also suffered by the entire family circle which resulted in Chloé’s mother filing a complaint in 2019 against her husband (1).
Chloé Buttigieg who, at the time, bore her father’s name, Dollin, here in 2013 after her 5th place in the French cadet championship. She poses with her trainer and current president of the Pont-l’Abbé-d’Arnoult club, Olivier Macaud.
Archives Jean-Claude Boinard
“Following a long car ride after an elimination, his father put a big blower on me”
” Feeling of guilt “
Reached by telephone by “Sud Ouest” this Sunday, December 10, his former coach and current president of the Pont-l’Abbé-d’Arnoult club, Olivier Macaud, 50, is in shock. “Chloé came to us at the age of 12 from Val-d’Oise. Very quickly, she showed great abilities. She earned her black belt in Pont-l’Abbé, as well as her title of French junior champion under 78 kg in May 2016 in Lyon. She was already at Pôle France at the time, but still licensed with us. »
Today, reading the long testimony of his former protégé, Olivier Macaud feels bad. “I feel a sense of guilt. Chloé, who at the time bore her father’s name (Dollin, Editor’s note), was a young girl on edge, often irritable, whom the club took under its wing. She was ultrasensitive, not always easy to support. But we went beyond that to adapt and continue to make progress. Now I understand better and I feel bad for not having understood what she was going through. »
Olivier Macaud says: “We were well aware that his father was very tough. He uttered violent words towards her and also towards us. I particularly remember a long car journey between Lyon and Charente-Maritime with him and Chloé. She was eliminated in the first round of the European Junior Championship. He kept yelling at her and gave me a big blow, telling me that it was not possible that she had been eliminated so early. »
On the right, Chloé Buttigieg when she was in the junior category.
Archives Jean-Claude Boinard
“What courage to testify”
Olivier Macaud reiterates his uneasiness. “I was shocked when I read his testimony on Saturday. This morning (Sunday December 10, Editor’s note), I sent her a message to express my admiration and highlight the courage she had to testify. She kindly told me that I didn’t have to feel guilty. However, I don’t see it well. At the time, I felt all this aggression, but I never imagined that she could suffer physical abuse. This case reminds me of another where I also experienced violence in the family of one of our young licensees. In light of Chloé’s story, this makes us think and should encourage us as educators to be more vigilant than ever. »
Despite this tragedy, Chloé Buttigieg continues her rise in the elite of international judo: in February 2023, she finished second (failure in the final against world champion and Olympic medalist Audrey Tcheumeo) in the very prestigious Paris tournament in the category of less than 78 kilos.
(1) Following this complaint, he was taken into police custody and tried. He received a fine, an eighteen-month suspended prison sentence and was deprived of his parental rights.
2023-12-10 17:50:47
#frightened #coach #remembers
