Former elite French figure skating coach, Gilles Beyer, has been charged with sexual assault, after at least six women skaters or former skaters accused him of the offence, reported AFP, quoting a judicial source.

Former world championships medallist, Sarah Abitbol, made accusations against Beyer in a book last year, causing a scandal that convulsed the sport in France.

According to Abitbol, Beyer repeatedly sexually assaulted her when she was aged between 15 and 17 in the early 1990s. Her book ‘Un Si Long Silence’ led to several other skaters coming forward such as Helene Godard, Laure Detante and Najma Mahamoud, the French junior champion in 2014. They all accused Beyer in the press.

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Last year, Beyer admitted having an “intimate relationship” with Abitbol, which he said was “inappropriate” and offered his “apologies.”

The Paris public prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation following the revelations into “rape and sexual assault of minors by a person in authority”, aimed, in particular, at verifying other potential victims.

On Wednesday morning, Beyer was taken into police custody,  but released on Friday when he was charged by the Paris public prosecutor’s office with “sexual assault by a person in authority and sexual harassment by a person in authority.”

According to a source close to the case, the cases of several women, minors at the time of the alleged events, could not be prosecuted under France’s statute of limitations. These include the case of Abitbol.

The source said only more recent cases, involving six women who were adults at the time of the alleged events, can be pursued. Three of them have accused Beyer of sexual assault.

In the small world of French figure skating, Abitbol’s book had led to a flood of revelations.

Other skaters have levelled accusations of sexual assault, sexual harassment or blackmail against other coaches or skating coaches.

Didier Gailhaguet, the president of the French Federation of Ice Sports (FFSG) for more than 20 years over two spells, was forced to resign, after a long arm wrestle with Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu, in early February 2020.

An investigation launched by the Sport Ministry then revealed suspicions over 21 FFSG coaches, 12 of whom were accused of “acts of sexual harassment or assault”.

Beyer’s is not the first high-profile case involving underage athletes.

In 2017 and 2018, former US national gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar received a series of sentences running from 40 to 175 years in prison after being tried for sexual assault under the guise of treatment of over 265 identified women, many of them former US Olympians, as well as for the possession of child pornography.