Who is Yannick Agnel? French Olympic swimmer, 29, accused of raping minor
A French swimmer, 29-year-old Yannick Agnel, is being investigated in connection with the rape and sexual assault of a 15-year-old. Agnel, who won two gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, was arrested in Paris on Thursday, December 9. A five-year-old complaint by a swimmer who trained with Agnel at the Mulhouse swimming club between 2014 and 2016 prompted the investigation.
Recently, a number of swimmers, current and past, have been interviewed. Agnel had joined the Mulhouse swimming club (MON) in 2014, and trained there for two years. The Mulhouse prosecutor’s office said “the arrest at the end of the morning in Paris (came) from an examining magistrate from Mulhouse, and his placement in police custody (is) for acts of rape and sexual assault on minors of 15 years."
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MON is where the former French Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu -- who is an Olympic backstroke silver medallist -- once trained. It is now also being investigated for "attempted fraud" for events that date back to 2016.
Who is Yannick Agnel?
Yannick Agnel was born in Nîmes in 1992. He was named by his family after French tennis player Yannick Noah. Agnel started swimming when he was only 8-years-old after a neighbor took note of his talent and told his parents that he must be enrolled in a swimming club. Agnel later integrated Skema Business School to study business. In 2012, Agnel's talent and success earned him the Swimming World's European Swimmer of the Year award.
Agnel, who was a consultant for French TV during the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, won Olympic gold in the 200 freestyle and on the 400 freestyle relay in London back in 2012. The race successfully smashed the then-Olympic textile best of 1:45.35, which had been clocked by Pieter van den Hoogenband at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Agnel has been vocal about the way the 200 freestyle is raced at present. He has claimed that Danas Rapsys is the only swimmer who swims the 200 freestyle the correct way. “There is only one way to dominate and win a 200 freestyle,” Agnel had said, talking about the need to take an attacking style. “When I’m watching swimming now, the only guy that knows how to swim a 200 freestyle is Danas Rapsys. And you know what, if it wasn’t for him to have shaken the blocks in Gwangju, he would have won.”