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French swimmer Yannick Agnel, who won two gold medals at the 2012 Olympics, has admitted to having sex with a minor – one of his coach’s daughters, a prosecutor said on Monday.
The 29-year-old was arrested on Thursday at his home in Paris on suspicion of rape and sexual assault and placed in police custody in Mulhouse, eastern France.
Agnel “recognises the substance of the allegations against him,” Mulhouse public prosecutor Edwige Roux-Morizot told a press conference, adding the swimmer did not “sense that there was coercion”.
The prosecutor said the facts constituted “rape or sexual assault as there is a big gap in age” between him and the plaintiff, who she named as Naome Horter, one of the daughters of Agnel’s coach Lionel Horter.
The girl was 13 in 2016 when Agnel – who was 24 at the time – is alleged to have had sex with her, the prosecutor said.
Meanwhile, the French Swimming Federation (FFN) announced on Monday it would launch a civil action in the case.
“The Federation has been informed of the admission by Mr. Agnel of ‘the substance of the allegations of which he is accused’. The decision was officially taken today to become a civil party before the judicial court of Mulhouse in this case, which the Federation deeply deplores.”
Agnel came to international prominence at the 2010 European championships winning 400-metre freestyle gold and setting a new French and championships record.
Two years later he starred at the London Olympics when he took gold in the 200m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay.
He collected gold in the same two events in the 2013 world championships.
Agnel went to Rio in 2016 to defend his 200m freestyle title but failed to advance through the heats, announcing his retirement from swimming soon after.
