“He was like a living god at the resort. So, when, in the winter of 2012, he contacted me, the insecure kid from La Rosiรจre, I felt flattered, I felt special. I didn’t see anything wrong, didn’t notice the 27-year age gap. But later, I understood. That I wasn’t the only one. That he had done this to other girls, and that he had been able to do it because he was protected by a lot of people all those years. That in La Rosiรจre [in the French Alps] and in the skiing community, everyone knew.” Solรจne C., who was 12 years old at the time, was lucky enough to have left her cell phone on the living room table, where her mother saw her messages. Otherwise, she admitted, she “would have ended up at his place.” He was Joรซl Chenal, an Olympic silver medalist in giant slalom at Turin in 2006, now 51. “A great coach, friendly and discreet,” according to many.
Solรจne C., whose 15-year-old sister was also contacted by Chenal, recalled some very ambiguous exchanges: “He used SMS-style shorthand, invited me over for hot chocolate at his place, said he’d come watch me ski and teach me, asked me to play truth or dare and told me, ‘I’m afraid to ask you daring questions.'” In November 2013, noticing that their daughter was not doing well, the teenager’s parents, who had reported him in January 2013, returned to the gendarmerie to file a complaint for attempted sexual assault on a minor under 15 years old.
Solรจne C. does not appear to have been an isolated target: At least six other women, all minors at the time of the events and most of whom agreed to testify to Le Monde, said they were sexually harassed by Chenal. He allegedly acted with impunity for at least a decade, both in public and private structures.
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