More than 200 testimonies have been submitted to #MeNow_MeToo, the initiative against sexual violence in Greece, as announced at a press conference on Thursday (3/2) at which Sophia Bekatorou, the Greek Olympian who launched the Me too movement in Greece with her complaint, spoke.
During the press conference Sofia Bekatorou read a testimony of a Greek gymnast who was shocked by the letter.
The complaint read by Sofia Bekatorou:
"I was born in Athens in 1986. I started gymnastics in 1990 at the age of 4.5 years old. I was blackmailed into the national team by the federation with phone calls to the parents and the club: if we didn't make the national team, we wouldn't be allowed to go down to the national championships and the federation's subsidies to the club would be cut. My club without the subsidies would be shut down therefore we moved up. When I joined the national team squad I thought all that was in the past.
I was deluded. The circumstances were much more difficult. The coach who took me on there was X. From the first day until almost the day I left the squad the word Romanian followed me every day in training. He was a coach who really wanted to have me on his hands.
However, he did everything to change every technique I knew until then. Many times he would bring his home problems to practice, causing him to have a temper and take it out on me and other athletes who belonged to him. There were times when I couldn't breathe from the beating. The doors were always closed and the parents were completely unaware. Of course, he wasn't the only coach.
We were all treated like punching bags. I remember spending 45 minutes hooked on a 10-meter rope and rhythmic gymnasts giving me encouragement from the next court. We were separated by a low wall and I could be seen from everywhere. My teammates passed by below and gave me encouragement.
After 45 minutes I slipped and couldn't take it anymore and found myself just inside the pit. There followed curses from X about my mother, my house and more and he demanded that I get on the rope, which I didn't do but cried. Then, he came in front of me. He beat me all over my body with kicks and slaps and as a result, the next day I couldn't even go to school. I had bruises everywhere and I couldn't wear clothes.
Another day and while I was trying to get a new exercise on the discus - winter with the court at zero degrees Celsius - X was wearing his jacket, drinking beer and eating pizza making fun of the other coaches from the many reps I did to get the exercise out half the skin on my palm was gone.
When I asked to go to the physio to get it bandaged he brought a bucket of cleaner to clean - he said - the blood off the mattresses. He grabbed my hand and plunged it in. I'm not the only one who went through all that. But, these are some of my own examples.
Just as the entire rhythmic and gymnastics team saw me hanging on the rope, saw my coach treat me with inappropriate violence, I saw the coaches of the others behave in a sordid, inappropriate, violent and offensive to sexual dignity manner. This applies to active athletes and Olympians, but also to active coaches and presidents of institutions. Looking back to 1999-2000 it is self-evident who I am referring to.
A week before the European Championships in Germany I broke my legs in singles at the sole responsibility of my coach. For a long time I had been asking for a change of my gloves which were standard equipment on the apparatus.
My coaches did not address and take care of this, despite the fact that I had expressed my concern and difficulty in performing the exercises about the worn out equipment. There were several reports about this accident at the time, without mentioning the real reasons. That day it was announced that I was the one who would do the compound individual at the European Championships in Patras.
The training was over and he put me back on the uneven bars in the presence of another coach, who had even expressed his objection to it. Unfortunately, it is a sport in which we gamble with our lives every day because of its dangerous nature. In my case, it didn't take long for the coach to do the wrong thing.
This man before me and after me has been violent to many championship and national team kids. He has pulled the mats out from underneath the bodies resulting in irreparable injuries to the athletes. Currently, while he is not on the National Team and left after his sons quit, he is involved in community sports and teaches in schools."
The gymnast in question is part of the group of male and female athletes who went on to file complaints against coaches in 2021.
The shocking facts
On the #MeNow_MeToo platform, an average of almost 4 testimonies are submitted per day.
An analysis of the first 150 testimonies shows that the vast majority of testimonies (96.7%) come from women. 70.7% concern sexual abuse [34.7% PHYSICAL CONTACT (WITH A MINOR OR SEX. ACTS WITHOUT CONSENT, 18%, RAPE, 16% SEXUAL ASSAULT, 2% THROUGH IMAGES], 18% concern sexual harassment, 5.3% other forms of intimate partner violence other than sexual and 6% other forms.
22% of the testimonies concern incidents that have occurred in the family, 20% in educational settings, 15% in cases of intimate partner violence, 14% are related to places of entertainment, 9% in work settings, 7% in health settings, 6% of the incidents have occurred in the neighbourhood, 3% in sports settings, and 4% in cases of meeting needs (e.g. buying goods and/or receiving services either at home or in a professional setting. The perpetrator of child sexual abuse (up to 14 years old) is a close relative (cousin, father, uncle, brother) for 1:4 children (25.4%) or a person in a position of responsibility (teacher, doctor, coach, team leader) for 1:5 children (19.5%).
Among adolescent girls (14+-18), nearly 3:10 (27.5%) report sexual abuse/harassment by a person in a position of authority and nearly 4:10 (36.4%) by a person they dated or considered a partner (possible seduction). The proportion is similar among adult women, with 1:3 (32.8%) reporting abuse by a partner (dating/romantic/sexual relationship).
Sophia Bekatorou and Maria Syrengela spoke at the beginning of the press conference.
"We support survivors of abuse, and invite victims to speak up and testify their experiences on the #MeNow_MeToo platform. We are collecting testimonies while protecting anonymity and data to help us make comprehensive interventions. We are there for each person when they choose to speak up with the aim of offering guidance and support with a holistic approach" said Sophia Bekatorou, Olympic Sailing Gold Medalist, Psychologist Bsc., S.O.F.I.A. project implementation manager.
Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Maria Syrengela in her speech said: "Until recently, victims were afraid to speak out. But this is changing. Society has matured and is listening to victims of violence. The State is also on the side of the victims, promoting a series of measures and actions to prevent and combat abuse. We stand by every effort such as #MeNow_MeToo because the cause is common and we promote cooperation with civil society."
Find out more about #MeNow_MeToo at www.menowmetoo.gr
Source: protothema.gr
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