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Double Olympic gold medalist Yannick Agnel will face trial on charges involving the daughter of his former coach.
The 33-year-old French swimmer is suspected of having had a relationship in 2016 with Naomé Horter when she was 13 years old and he was 24.
Agnel will stand trial after his appeal was rejected on Thursday (January 15).
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Highlights
- French Olympic gold medalist Yannick Agnel will face trial after being accused of having a coercive relationship with his coach’s underage daughter.
- Agnel appealed the case last May, but the request was rejected.
- The swimmer is suspected of having intimate relations with Naomé Horter when he was 24 and she was 13.
Olympic swimmer Yannick Agnel will face trial after being accused of having non-consensual relations with a teen
Image credits: Adam Prett
Trigger warning: this article discusses sensitive topics that may be distressing to some.
Agnel has never denied the relationship with the then-minor but has alleged that it was consensual and loving, Le Monde reported.
Horter, however, maintains that she was subjected to non-consensual relations.
Prosecutors said the alleged offences took place in various locations in 2016, including the French city of Mulhouse where Agnel trained, Rio de Janeiro during the Olympic Games, as well as Spain and Thailand.
Image credits: J.-L. Fel/L’Équipe
Prosecutor Edwige Roux-Morizot said “the facts constitute r*pe and s*xual as*ault due to the age difference, because the justice system considers that there is genuine moral duress.”
The investigation led to the athlete’s indictment in December 2021.
Agnel’s lawyers appealed the decision last May, but the appeals court in Colmar, northeastern France, rejected the request and ordered the trial to proceed.
Agnel is accused of having intimate relations with Naomé Horter when he was 24 and she was 13
Image credits: Mulhouse Olympic Swimming
The swimmer won two gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics in the 200-meter freestyle and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
The 33-year-old is also a three-time world champion across short course and long course events.
Image credits: Getty/Quinn Rooney
He qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics but failed to get through the heats and announced his retirement soon after, Le Monde reported. That year, he said it was “time to sail on to other horizons.”
In 2013, the accused athlete was made a Knight (Chevalier) of France’s Legion D’honneur, the country’s highest decoration for public service or merit.
According to local sports outlet L’Équipe, several swimmers, both active and retired, have been questioned as part of the investigation.
The accuser and the accused met at a swimming club in Mulhouse, France, and traveled together
Image credits: Getty/Al Bello
Agnel and Horter’s relationship was not a secret to members of his swimming club, Radio France reported.
The prosecutor described a relationship of “control” between the athlete and the teenager. He said Agnel “is aware of having done something serious” and that he “regrets” it.
According to local media, the relationship began with a New Year’s Eve kiss on December 31, 2015, in the swimmer’s apartment.
Image credits: FRANCE 24
The teen’s father, who was Agnel’s coach at the time, later moved Agnel into his home to closely monitor his training and lifestyle ahead of the Rio Olympics.
The two were allegedly together in Thailand, where the elite team of the Mulhouse Olympic Natation club went on a training camp in January and February 2016.
A swimmer told France Bleu that the teen, who is also a swimmer, “regularly” went to Agnel’s room during that stay.
A swimmer who was part of Agnel’s entourage said they had “doubts” about his relationship with the teenager
Image credits: Vivre ensemble
“I had my doubts about what was going on,” the swimmer said, while others who were part of the trip wondered how the teen’s parents “could have seen nothing.”
During their hearing in 2021, her parents said they only became aware of the events two weeks before Horter filed a complaint.
“At 13, you’re not qualified to judge that. I feel sorry for her,” expressed another member of Agnel’s entourage.
Image credits: Getty/Aurelien Meunier
In 2024, the Olympic swimmer met for two hours with his accuser, the daughter of Lionel Horter, before a judge in Mulhouse. The request for the confrontation was made by Agnel and marked the first time the two had met in court.
No statements were released by lawyers on either side following the meeting.
The French law setting the age of consent at 15 was passed in 2021.
Prior to that, legislation stated that adults having s*x with someone under 18 was an offence, but there needed to be proof it was non-consensual to obtain a conviction of r*pe.
In France, the legal age of consent is 15, as established by a law passed in 2021
Image credits: Getty/Al Bello
Under the new law, which is closer in line with legislation in many other Western nations, an adult having s*x with an individual under 15 constitutes as r*pe and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Meanwhile, an act of s*xual as*ault is punishable by a penalty of 10 years in prison.
Agnel has ten days to appeal to France’s top court, the Court of Cassation.
Many people said Yannick Agnel should be convicted over his relationship with Naomé Horter
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Tabitha 1 month ago
“Agnel has never denied the relationship with the then-minor but has alleged that it was consensual and loving, Le Monde reported.” Excuse me, but a 13 year old is far from the age of consent, so it doesn’t matter if she supposedly was with him willingly. She wasn’t old enough to make that kind of decision. But he was, and he was also of the age to groom a child to think she’s having s*x with him willingly. If he thinks saying she consented constitutes an explanation that exonerate him of wrongdoing, he is not just a pedophile, he’s a stupid pedophile who thinks he can talk his way out of this trouble by shifting the blame onto his victim. HE was the grownup who should have known better, but instead he took full advantage of her young age and vulnerability. Fry his a*s.
Apatheist 1 month ago
Fit young successful athletes probably have their pick of partners. Why do they need to do stuff like this?
Tabitha 1 month ago
Because if they have the pedophile f****h, they think diddling little girls is part of that pick of partners—-and that their fame and money give them a free pass and immunity from prosecution. Sound like a familiar mindset amongst the rich and famous?
Load More Replies... Tabitha 1 month ago
“Agnel has never denied the relationship with the then-minor but has alleged that it was consensual and loving, Le Monde reported.” Excuse me, but a 13 year old is far from the age of consent, so it doesn’t matter if she supposedly was with him willingly. She wasn’t old enough to make that kind of decision. But he was, and he was also of the age to groom a child to think she’s having s*x with him willingly. If he thinks saying she consented constitutes an explanation that exonerate him of wrongdoing, he is not just a pedophile, he’s a stupid pedophile who thinks he can talk his way out of this trouble by shifting the blame onto his victim. HE was the grownup who should have known better, but instead he took full advantage of her young age and vulnerability. Fry his a*s.
Apatheist 1 month ago
Fit young successful athletes probably have their pick of partners. Why do they need to do stuff like this?
Tabitha 1 month ago
Because if they have the pedophile f****h, they think diddling little girls is part of that pick of partners—-and that their fame and money give them a free pass and immunity from prosecution. Sound like a familiar mindset amongst the rich and famous?
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