One of the cases that had great repercussions not only in the sports world, but also in the whole Greek public, started in Athens.
The 22-year-old sailing champion woman claimed that she was raped by her trainer Triandafilos Apostolou when she was just 11 years old and demanded that the necessary punishment be given to her.
At the request of the complainant, whose identity was kept confidential, his statement was taken behind closed doors.
The athlete, who testified to the judges in the first session of the trial, said that it was possible for an 11-year-old girl to understand the real purpose of the “close attention” that sailing coach Apostolou showed towards her.
The same athlete stated that he still carries the traumas caused by this rape at the age of 11.
The young athlete, 12 years later, questions why he decided to file a complaint now; She replied that she was inspired by the courage of 2004 Olympic champion Sofia Bekatorou, who announced that she had been raped in 2020.
The sailing athlete said that he filed a lawsuit against coach Apostolou in the same year.
The 22-year-old athlete argued that he decided to become a plaintiff in order to break the silence of those who could not express the painful events because of their embarrassment.
The press and public support the young athlete, who came to the hearing with Sofia Bekatorou alongside her family.
Bekatorou said, “I hope that people like these who abuse children’s athletes get the punishment they deserve. Because we could not do anything against the impunity of those who were raped, those who did this to us. Our psychology has suffered great traumas. We are waiting for the necessary punishment to come to an end.”
Coach ‘I wanted to get married’ defense
Bekatorou’s coming forward and sharing the attack started the #metoo movement in Greece.
Apostolou, who has been imprisoned since 2020, continued to reject the “rape accusation” in the court where he was taken.
In his statements to the press last year, Apostolou claimed that “the girl is over 11 years old and that he wanted to marry her when she was 18”.
The young athlete, whose identity was hidden on Greek television, told that he was verbally abused by his trainer since he was 9 years old.
Increasingly over the past few years, many women, and in some cases men, are reporting harassment under this label as a result of #metoo campaigns.