Olympic swim champ arrested after sex with a minor
<p dir="ltr">French swimming champion Yannick Agnel has admitted to having sex with a minor, a prosecutor said on Monday.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The 29-year-old, who won two gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics, was arrest at his Paris home last week on suspicion of rape and sexual assault, and taken into police custody.</p>
<p dir="ltr">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”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The prosecutor said the facts constituted “rape or sexual assault as there is a big gap in age” between him and the plaintiff, who has been named as Naome Horter: the teenage daughter of Agnel’s swimming coach.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The assault is alleged to have taken place in 2016, when the girl was 13 and Agnel was 24.</p>
<p dir="ltr">During the criminal investigation, the French Swimming Federation (FFN) announced they would also be launching a civil action case.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“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.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Rising to prominence in 2010 after setting a French championship swimming record, Agnel went on to win gold in the 200m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay at the London 2012 Olympics.</p>
<p dir="ltr">He went to Rio in 2016 to defend his title, but failed to advance through the heats, and later announced his retirement from swimming.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>
