Two-time Olympic gold medalist Yannick Agnel was arrested Thursday morning and taken into custody as part of a rape investigation, multiple French media outlets are reporting.
Several French media sources, including L’Equipe Sports, report that Agnel was placed in custody in Paris as part of an open investigation into the rape of a minor.
L’Equipe reports that an investigation was launched after a swimmer that trained with Angel at the Mulhouse Olympic Swimming club from 2014 to 2016 filed a lawsuit. Several current and retired swimmers have reportedly already been questioned in the investigation.
Since the initial reports of Angel’s arrest, Mulhouse’s prosecutor’s office has told media outlets that he was taken into custody as part of an investigation for “rape and sexual assault on a 15-year-old girl.”
Agnel trained at Mulhouse, a club that has come into financial and legal trouble recently, from September 2014 until the summer of 2016, departing after the Olympic Games in Rio.
The 29-year-old announced his retirement after those 2016 Games.
Agnel won three medals at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, including a pair of golds in the men’s 200 freestyle and 400 free relay. He also anchored the French team to silver in the 800 free relay, and was a double gold medalist at the 2013 World Championships in the 200 free and 400 free relay.
Agnel is currently the world record holder in the men’s 400 freestyle in short course meters (3:32.25), and owns the fastest time ever recorded in a textile suit in the LCM 200 free from those 2012 Games (1:43.14).
Since retiring from the sport in 2016, Agnel has made some media appearances on French television and did coverage for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The daughter of his last coach accused him. The club of Mulhouse where he spent his last 2 seasons owned him 60 K euros. One year of wagges. Agnel won in court (but Mulhouse Olympic appealed the decision). Let’s see what happen. He is innocent until proven guilty.
His 1:43.1 is so impressive I think I’ll just let this slide 👀
From French Wiki….In early October 2020, an investigation carried out by the Radio France investigation unit denounced the actions of the Horter family, which concerned the parents and brother of Lionel Horter, all involved in high-level swimming. Lionel Horter is notably accused of poor management of public money, an illegal accumulation of public and private jobs and non-payment of sums due [ 6 ] . In early July 2020, the Mulhouse club had to pay 60,000 euros to Yannick Agnel after a court decision. A sum which concerned the last year of salary owed by the club and which he refused to pay to the athlete [ 7 ] .
2016 ? Wow that is sometime ago
Another part of this investigation started in 2016.
From world records to criminal records…..
Not yet
Le Parisien says he is in Garde à Vue which is pre-trial police custody that can last up to 96 hours. Here is some more information on how GAV works in France.
https://greenandblackcross.org/guides/france/2-garde-a-vue-custody/
The article goes on to say that the complaint is believed to have been filed this summer by the daughter of his then coach in Mulhouse, Lionel Horter, who was only 13 years old at the time. It also says he was hosted at the Horter’s house for several months while training in Mulhouse.
https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/viol-sur-mineur-lex-nageur-yannick-agnel-interpelle-dans-le-cadre-de-louverture-dune-information-judiciaire-09-12-2021-5YHNAQPJBRCGHFW6FJWE65TTDE.php
Former swimmers and training partners have already been interviewed as part of the investigation. In this article, the… Read more »
Thanks for sharing.
This is really helpful. I’ll take your word on the truth of your summaries, since I don’t speak any French.
A dark day for swimming
Wow that really is crushing. As someone who has always idolized him…..