A “canoe-kayak coach” will be tried in July for sexual assault on minors, facts which he admitted in police custody, Rennes public prosecutor Philippe Astruc announced on Saturday. The man is suspected of “sexual assault on a minor over 15 years old by a person in authority,” said the magistrate.
According to the regional daily The Telegram, it would be Jean-Yves Prigent, 70 years old, who won the team gold medal (K1) at the World Championships in 1977 and whose family would be very influential in the world of French canoeing. Marie-Françoise, his wife, is responsible for the Vaires-sur-Marne site where the Olympic canoeing and rowing events will be held during the Paris Games this summer, while Yves Prigent, their son, works for Paris 2024 , specified our colleagues from franceinfo on April 29. Finally, Jean-Yves Prigent’s daughter, Camille, was selected in kayak slalom for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Philippe Astruc, who did not wish to confirm the name of the coach, indicated that in March, “a parent came forward (…) to denounce acts of sexual assault committed against his 16-year-old son , by his canoe-kayak coach during a competition weekend.”
The accused “admitted all of the facts denounced”
“These touchings would have been committed (…) while they were sleeping together in the respondent’s camper van,” he added. A second victim of the same age was identified as having also been touched in the same context the following night. »
“Heard in police custody, the accused admitted all of the facts denounced” by the complainants and was referred Friday to the Rennes public prosecutor’s office, according to the magistrate.
He will be judged by the Rennes criminal court on July 12, said Philippe Astruc. Placed under judicial supervision, he is prohibited from “exercising a professional or voluntary activity involving habitual contact with minors”, from entering into contact with the victims but also from “appearing at the Rennes kayak club and at the Pôle France kayak de Cesson-Sévigné”, close to the Breton capital.
Contacted at the beginning of May, the French canoe-kayak federation confirmed, without mentioning names, that it had “received a report a few weeks ago, which was processed according to the usual procedure. As in such a case, the executive office very quickly took a precautionary measure while waiting for the first instance disciplinary committee.”
