The Mulhouse prosecutor’s office informed AFP that French swimmer Yannick Agnel, who won two gold medals at the 2012 Olympics, was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of “rape and sexual assault on a 15-year-old minor”.
According to Edwige Roux-Morizot, the city’s public prosecutor, the 29-year-old was also placed under court surveillance.
Agnel was detained by police in Mulhouse, eastern France, after being arrested in Paris on Thursday.
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The prosecutor said a complaint had been filed for incidents “around 2016” including the “rape and sexual assault on a 15-year-old minor”.
According to French media, “the investigation would follow a complaint from a swimmer who trained with Agnel in Mulhouse between 2014 and 2016.”
Angel, who was the reigning Olympic champion at the time, began training at the Mulhouse Swimming Club (MON) in 2014 and stayed for two years.
“Several swimmers or former swimmers have been interviewed in recent weeks,” sports daily L’Equipe reported.
MON, where current French Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu, a silver medalist in the 2000 Olympic backstroke, once trained, is being investigated for “attempted fraud” for competitions dating back to 2016.
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According to French television, the club has been in a conflict with numerous swimmers, including Agnel, who went to court to recover 60,000 euros promised to him by the club for the final year of his contract.
Agnel rose to worldwide notoriety after winning gold in the 400-meter freestyle at the 2010 European Championships, setting new French and championship records.
He won gold in the 200m freestyle and the 4x100m freestyle, as well as silver in the 4x200m freestyle, at the London Olympics two years later.
In the 2013 global championships, he took home gold in the same two events.
In 2016, Agnel headed to Rio to defend his 200m freestyle championship, but he didn’t make it through the heats, and he announced his retirement from swimming shortly after.
