Many times medalist in the biggest international competitions, the former pair skater, ten times champion of France with her partner Stéphane Bernadis, published three years ago, alongside the journalist Emmanuelle Anizon, Such a long silence (Plon), a punchy story that recounted the rapes she had suffered as a teenager from her trainer [Gilles Beyer, mis en examen à la suite de plusieurs plaintes et décédé le mois dernier, NDLR]. Having become the emblematic voice of victims of sexual violence in the sports world, Sarah Abitbol continues her fight within her association La Voix de Sarah, which presents warning cry (1) at Insep, an exhibition of committed photographs by Tom Bartowicz. At 47, the ex-champion, just decorated with the National Order of Merit by the Minister of Sports Amélie Castéra-Oudéa, is also the guest star of the new show of Holiday on ice (2), where she evokes, in two paintings on ice, her long Stations of the Cross. We met her in a bistro in the 12th arrondissement, close to her home.
You moved to Florida in 2015, but it was in France that you created your association La voix de Sarah.
From now on, I am mainly in France. My fight is here, even if it will be deployed internationally, particularly in the United States, where the American consulate has asked me to intervene in schools from May. I have always felt French. Retrospectively, I understood that I had also gone to Miami, where I have family ties, to flee, not to have to meet my attacker again, since at the time, he was still active in skating and that inevitably, myself evolving in this environment with my troupe Rêves de glace, I was led to meet him.
We learned, on January 21, of the death of Gilles Beyer at the age of 66. How did you react ?
I was in shock, his death automatically extinguishing any legal action against him. I thought of his victims, of those who, like me, broke the silence, and of the others who preferred not to speak. Did this death spare us a trial that might have been too heavy? I do not know. If it had taken place, I would have appeared as a witness, the facts on my side being prescribed. Even if, a few months ago, the law changed by removing the prescription on the filing of a civil complaint and that we were thinking with my lawyers about the possibility of positioning ourselves in relation to this new situation.
“Breathless”, photography by Tom Bartowicz.
/ © Tom Bartowicz – Sarah’s Voice
In January 2020, you published Un si long silence, which made you an emblem of a “sports metoo”. Did you expect such a stir?
I felt it as the culmination of a long and painful process, interspersed with decisive stages: the TV movie The Solace [diffusé fin 2017, NDLR], adapted from the autobiography of Flavie Flament; my exchanges with Bruno Solo, a long-time friend and one of the ambassadors of La Voix de l’enfant, who jostled me a little, pushed me to free my speech; finally, my meeting with Emmanuelle Anizon, who later became my co-author, to which I gave myself up, not without difficulty at the start, because it is not easy to unpack what you have kept silent for thirty years. In the end, it’s a real liberation, because, during all these years of silence, the more time passed, the more I felt cowardly, accomplice of an omerta.
“Since my testimony, three years ago, 50 federations have been affected and more than 900 cases of proven aggression”
Did the avalanche of complaints from other skaters who followed surprise you?
No. I had contacted some of them before the publication of the book. It was complicated because most of them did not want to expose themselves publicly. We had to be trusted, for there to be a chain of women who trusted each other, for us to talk about real omerta. And it happened. The investigation of The Obsreleased at the same time as my testimony, revealed that within the French Ice Sports Federation, I was far from being the only victim.
What conclusions do you draw today?
Since my testimony, three years ago, 50 federations have been affected and more than 900 cases of proven aggression, all sports combined. When I see today the crisis unit at the ministry, the contracts of good repute for volunteers and all the other measures that have been put in place following this speech, I have no regrets. And it touched me a lot to learn that women went to the police station to file a complaint with my book, where they had found points of agreement between their story and mine.
“9 times out of 10”, photograph by Tom Bartowicz.
/ © Tom Bartowicz – Sarah’s Voice
How was the association La Voix de Sarah born?
Following the book, I spoke a lot with the Minister of Sports at the time, Roxana Maracineanu, who told me how important it would be for me to spread my message through associations, especially since the sports associations of of this type are few in France. I created La Voix de Sarah last year, with the help of Yves Barta, my director on Holiday on ice. Today, I work there alongside Katia Palla, the director of the association, who devotes a lot of energy to it, and fights daily to find funds.
What is its purpose?
Concretely, through the relay of recognized institutions that send them to us, we collect the words of victims whom we redirect, according to their request, to psychologists, nurses specializing in sexual violence, sophrologists, lawyers or jurists, all volunteers. There is first a speech, before starting a process that may be psychological and / or legal. And there is always a follow-up, whether for the victims or their loved ones: asking for news, relaying what helped me to get out of it, the books I read to feel better, my experiences in meditation and sophrology.
You travel a lot in the provinces to carry your message.
The association organizes awareness conferences throughout France, for which we rely on various media, such as the traveling exhibition warning cry and the documentary Such a long silence broadcast in 2022 on France Television. We try to be on all fronts by going to schools, gymnasiums, swimming pools, ice rinks… It’s a lot of work, but when we receive a message like “You saved my child”, we feel all of it the necessity.
“Loss of landmarks”, photography by Tom Bartowicz.
/ © Tom Bartowicz – Sarah’s Voice
Are these victims all from the sporting world?
Mostly, but not only. We respond to all requests and there are many. There are all profiles. Those – and sometimes those – who express themselves long after. And the others for which the facts go back to two or three years, which makes it possible to consider a legal step, the prescription not being engaged. But, here too, we must remain nuanced. Each case is unique and the court is not necessarily the miracle answer, the guarantee of feeling better. You must already take care of yourself, save yourself, learn to walk again with your head held high, before focusing on your attacker.
Have you talked about what you went through to your daughter Stella who is 12 today?
It took me a year after the publication of the book to manage to talk to him about it. She was then 10 years old. I ended up finding the words, adapted to his age: “Your private parts are your little treasures, no one has the right to touch them”. In the United States they say private partsthat’s what my daughter, who has both French and American culture, took away from my message: “Les private partswe don’t touch it”.
(1) Warning Cry at Insep, 11 avenue du Tremblay, Paris XII, from February 14 (the exhibition will then move to the Sarah Abitbol ice rink in Bourges).
(2) Holiday on ice, Supernovaon tour throughout France until April 30.