Two-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer Yannick Agnel was indicted on Thursday, January 15, for allegedly raping the teenage daughter of his former coach.
According to a report from The Athletic published on Friday, January 16, Agnel, 33, was charged in French criminal court for alleged acts of rape and sexual assault on a minor under 15 years of age.
Agnel — who retired from swimming after the 2016 Rio Olympics — has 10 days from the decision on Thursday to appeal the decision to the Court of Cassation, the highest court in France’s judiciary.
The alleged charges reportedly date back to 2021, when Agnel was arrested after a complaint detailed the alleged sexual acts, committed around 2016. Agnel admitted to those complaints and was subsequently arrested, but denied that any coercion took place.
Prosecutors claim that the alleged incidents in question took place between December 31, 2015, and August 31, 2016 in Mulhouse, France (where Agnel was training at the time), during the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Alleged incidents also occurred in Spain and Thailand.
According to French newspaper Le Monde, Agnel’s attorneys appealed the decision for him to face those charges in May 2025, but the French appeals court ordered the trial to proceed.
In 2021, France passed a law that classified sex with a child under the age of 15 as rape (France’s age of consent is 15). The victim in this case was 13 years old at the time of the alleged incidents, and Angel was 24. These charges are now punishable by up to 20 years in jail.
Agnel is set to face trial at a later date.
The swimmer was once one of France’s top athletes at the Olympic level, earning two Olympic gold medals during the 2012 Summer Games in London (in the 200m freestyle and the 4x100m freestyle relay). He also earned silver in the 4×200m freestyle relay that year.
He earned multiple World Championships in 2013 and is the current world record holder in the 400m freestyle (short course) and the French record holder in the 200- and 400m freestyle (long course).
He then qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, but did not earn a medal and subsequently retired.
“I’ve tried to come back, little by little… that 100 was complicated,” Agnel said after the 2016 Games. “I just wanted to give it my all. I have no regrets, and that’s what matters tonight.”
He continued, “I trained hard every day. I did what I needed to do in order to be at the top, and as it happens, I wasn’t. On the one hand I have no regrets because I know when I swim I give it all I have. On the other hand it’s hard not being at the same level as before. It’s complicated but, as I’ve said before, I’ve been through so much over the last four years. Choices I do not regret at all because they brought me good things, but athletically, it’s more difficult. I’m feeling old.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
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