Olympic Gold Medalist Yannick Agnel to Face Trial for Sexual Assault
Olympic gold medalist Yannick Angel will face trial for sexual assault in his native France after an appeal was rejected on Thursday.
Agnel, 33, had appealed an order to go to trial in a 2025 court appearance, but a court in Colmar in the northeast of France turned that appeal down. The rape and sexual assault charges stem from a relationship that began in 2016 with the daughter of his coach, who was 13 years old at the time. Agnel was then training for his second Olympics in Rio.
The contact in question took place in early 2016 when Agnel moved his training base to Mulhouse, France. An investigation was launched in 2021, leading to Agnel’s indictment in December of that year. The public prosecutor determined that, “the facts constitute rape and sexual assault due to the age difference, because the justice system considers that there is genuine moral duress.”
Agnel continues to insist that the relationship was consensual. Prosecutors argue that under the law, a 13-year-old cannot legally consent to a sexual relationship, especially when Agnel was 23 at the time. A French federal law passed in 2021 that classifies sexual contact with children under the age of 15 as rape means he could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Agnel met with his accuser in a court-mediated session in 2024 a part of the prosecutorial process.
Agnel, now 33, won the men’s 200 freestyle at the London Olympics in 2012, to go with gold in the 400 free relay and silver in the 800 free. He was the 2013 World Champion in the 200 free. He swam at the Olympics in 2016, qualifying only through a scratch in the French program after one of the top two qualifying swimmers opted out. He didn’t make it out of the heats. He remains the holder of the short-course 400 freestyle world record, set in 2012, and has done analysis work for French television in his retirement.