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Gold medalist Sofia Bekatorou broke the silence at the online conference “Start to Talk”, organized by the Ministry of Sport, within the framework of the Council of Europe’s program for the Protection of Children in Sports ”
Sofia Bekatorou’s complaint about the sexual abuse she suffered was shocking: “At some point, while we were talking to X, I turned around and kissed. I froze, I didn’t know how to react, I never expected him to make such a move.
For me, X represented the father model, he was a man who finally did not fight us in the Federation and wanted our good, I thought.
I kept moving faster, pretending not to understand what had happened, although I told him that I had never expected such a move.
When he got to our hotel, in the elevator before going to his room, he asked me to follow him. I refused and went to close the door. Always courteously and with a smile, he asked me if I was afraid of him and then I answered him no, but that there was no reason to go to his room together.
Trying to convince me, he assured me that he wasn’t going to do anything erotic just to talk. But he knew how to talk to me and how to calm me down and lower my defenses.
And when that happened, he started harassing me. I tried to push him away, to show him that there is no mutual desire, believing that I would respect him.
I said no, I repeated that I didn’t want to go ahead and he with fake candy said it’s just a joke. He said he would stop if I didn’t want to, but he didn’t stop what I told him. Crying and embarrassed, I left the room when he finished and got up.
I returned to my room where my fellow athlete slept unprepared. I bathed, I felt dirty, exhausted, humiliated and unable to defend my rights.
Although we had just acquired the right to dream about Emilia, if she was talking about what happened to me, she could collapse.
I couldn’t handle this feeling and I couldn’t share it with my team because it could have divided us.
Our team, which included the men’s team, was always on a thin balance rope and there were no strong ties that could make me speak openly.
And our coach was 25 years old, quite emotional and with no experience in crisis management.
Also, at that time, we did not have any collaboration with a sports psychologist and of course I would never speak to my parents, because they prevented me from sailing.
In my innocent little mind, the only solution was to be silent and pretend nothing was wrong.
I cried a lot and when I woke up I started a show that ended until a while ago.
With a lot of work, treatment and analysis I managed to assume the weight of my responsibility, not to mention then, to take that factor out of the sports countries.
This half man who had no limits, took advantage of the situations, my emotional euphoria and dedication to my goal. He took advantage of the weakness of our team, knowing there was not much cohesion and strength, his institutional position, to satisfy his sick instinct.
The only thing I was able to open up to was the bond I had then, which I also asked not to react to, since he was also an athlete.
X never regretted or changed the way he worked. With my change of attitude and coldness he became ironic and generally questioned my abilities and performance at every possible opportunity, saying that younger athletes should have more opportunities and not those whose careers are in the West. of.
He adopted this mindset from 1999 to 2019. During this time I have achieved the most honors for our country in sailing, but having lost the most important asset as a personality: love for myself!
Surveys show that one in five children in Europe is sexually abused. “Sexual violence” is a broad term that includes “sexual harassment” and “sexual abuse.”
Unfortunately, 1/3 of the children who have been victims of sexual violence never speak and 80% of the perpetrators come from their circle of trust. Similar phenomena have been identified in the field of sports.
SOURCE: ΑΠΕ
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