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| - The Paris prosecutor's office said Thursday it had opened an investigation into alleged rape and sexual assaults by around 20 figure-skating coaches in recent decades, after receiving evidence from the sports ministry. The inquiry will also aim to identify other potential victims or alleged abusers, the office said, after several skaters came forward in the wake of claims by the former Olympic medallist Sarah Abitbol. In a book published in January, Abitbol accused her ex-coach Gilles Beyer of raping her between 1990 and 1992 when she was between the ages of 15 and 17. Beyer, the manager of the French national figure skating team, was removed following an investigation by the sports ministry in 2000 but was allowed to continue coaching at club level. Didier Gailhaguet, president of the French ice sports federation (FFSG) for more than 20 years, was forced to resign a few weeks after Abitbol's account came out, though he maintains that he was unaware of any abuse. But last month, the sports ministry said that its own investigation and questioning of dozens of people had uncovered evidence about 21 coaches. More than half were accused of sexual harassment, and others of "physical or verbal violence." The investigation also lambasted the way the FFSG was run, with "a strong concentration of powers involving only a few managers," which could only "encourage a form of omerta over the suspicions about coaches." gd/bl/pa/swi/js/pb
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