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Following Sofia Bekatorou’s disclosure, Atlanta silver medalist Niki Bakoyannis’s disclosure on sports3.gr that she had been the victim of sexual harassment by a SEGAS factor also triggers an earthquake.
After your complaint Sofia Bekatorou He was the silver medalist of the high jump Niki Bakoyannis, who wanted to talk about his own traumatic experience. The alleged harassment incident by Niki Bakoyannis took place in 1997 when she was 29 years old and a year after the Atlanta Olympics when she won a medal. He trusted a SEGAS agent who is no longer alive. Bakoyannis, 52, a mother of two, made the reveal on sports3.gr.
Niki, Sofia Bekatorou and then other sports champions reported some kind of harassment …
“It just came to our attention then. And to me.” Not the way it happened in Sofia, but there has been harassment in the past. ”
What type of harassment did you receive?
“Not sexual abuse, but harassment.”
From a sports factor?
“From a SEGAS factor. Now he’s dead, to God he’s not Stratos Molyvas. I wanted to tell you about this case in the past. But I think sport is a place that has them in it. You accept things. And when you put it on What do you wear, when you exercise they look at you strangely, when you move with leggings … In training you get one more look, they look at you a little differently ”.
When did this harassment occur, how old were you, and what exactly happened?
“It was after the 1996 Olympics, it just happened. You know people who have had posts in the past … I remember, I never thought about this: τι I mean, someone may want to have coffee with you, in a public place and have something else in mind. ”
That same year at the Atlanta Olympics?
“The following year. We went out friendly, you know, there was a man who told me that he would like to meet us, talk about sports and all that. But this man’s mind was on something else, which at first I did not understand, but in the course From the conversation, I began to understand that I wanted something more and. I remember at that time I asked for the help of a girl who lived very close and she came. She was also an old athlete and she came to the place where we had coffee so that I could get rid of I couldn’t find another solution, I was already embarrassed. I was telling this man that he’s 50 years older than me, I don’t know exactly how many, and he was thinking something like that. ”.
At least in his case he was left alone to the proposal.
“I hinted at it too, because I couldn’t do anything else. And I remember the other track and field girl who came, the story continued and then he tried to get closer to her, telling her a few things. To help her professionally and such.”
To clarify, were you on the SEGAS board?
“It just came to our knowledge then. Everybody knows him, now I can’t say his name, like I said, the man is dead. But do you know something? In these places, because I have stayed at the Olympic Stadium and during travel and the games, the cases of accepting such things of a factor were individual. It didn’t happen often. I haven’t heard from anyone else about this man and this issue. “But I also remember the Olympics that we attended with 20,000 people. If you behave ‘inappropriately’, you can easily accept a proposal for ‘something else’. “
Has this man bothered you since then?
“No, he didn’t bother me again because I didn’t follow up on this. So I was shocked because I saw that this man didn’t want to talk to me and talk to me about sports, but he had other things on his mind and I completely interrupted him. I was more worried about … the next … ”
The case of Sofia Bekatorou, however, is different. The factor was not just words!
“I condemn any action taken by any person, including a minor or an adult. Especially in minors, who come with a purpose and when they come into contact with a person, this seeks not to help them be better athletes or athletes, but to take advantage of it. another way. I condemn it, this shouldn’t happen. I notice it in my daily life when I train with the children I have or with the coaches. “I used to organize sports camps, when I had young children, a child who was very young never went to the bathroom, without being accompanied by a suitable person or by me. ”
Do you condemn exploitation in sport?
“I condemn any attempt by an agent whose purpose is not to help the athlete improve. It is not possible to have a place to take advantage of sensitivity, inexperience. I would also like to refer to younger ages.” In adolescence or even younger children they don’t recognize how to avoid such a person. ”
Sophia was 22 years old when it happened and reported that she saw a father model on the actor’s face who sexually abused her.
“Well of course it can happen later in life. As a coach, I didn’t have those problems. This is what I’ve been talking about my whole life. This former SEGAS agent, whom I met for another purpose and had something else going on. mind that I understood with the implication and the gestures. And I say again: I asked for the help of a friend of mine who came and sat with us to be able to avoid it and I erased it completely. “On the other hand, I have heard of athletes who had relationships with their coaches. ”
And did the coaches “take advantage” of a situation?
“Yes, I’ve heard that too, but I don’t know if it can be true if I don’t see it with my own eyes.”
Why do Niki say that now, 24 years later? And Sophia let many years go by to make her own song public.
“I buried this then and didn’t do it again. As soon as this man stopped bothering me, I didn’t know him after all. We’re probably not discussing it out of embarrassment.”
Do you agree, however, that the complaint should be made, that every athlete and woman should make any abuse public?
“We have to go out and speak directly about the abuse, we have to not save it. I don’t know if it’s the right time then, in the past to say it. I don’t know from the athletes if they will believe them, or accept some out of the world bowling, or if some people come out and say “he loved them and he goes out and talks now.” There are several, some who are very famous may not come out to talk about shame, perhaps not to characterize themselves by this and follow them throughout their lives.
Sophia found the strength and said so.
“Sophia came out right now to say it because she has made a move in her life and was not afraid to go out and say it. She is an organized girl, she has her family and children, she has gone through various stages, she is a psychologist and now she has found the strength to say it. She did it well and said it, congratulations. But keep in mind that these things exist in sports. Federations should, in places where there are athletes, more women participate. We do not see a large percentage of women dealing with administration, coaching, etc. It is “out”. However, there is a sexism in sport, which is clandestine, but it does exist ”.
