A French Olympic figure skater is being accused sending pictures of his penis to a 13-year-old female American Figure skater, who was then allegedly harassed by three coaches as they attempted to cover up the incident, reportedly telling the young girl that ‘men have their needs.’
The U.S. Center for SafeSport has announced that it is looking into the claims made by the girl’s parents against French pairs figure skater Morgan Cipres.
According to emails from the girl’s family that were obtained by USA Today, Cipres sent two pictures of his penis to the alleged victim, who practiced at a rink in Wesley Chapel, Florida, where he was training in 2017 in preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Figure skating coach Vinny Dispenza allegedly told the victim and another underage girl to request the pictures from Cipres in exchange for the promise of a pizza.
Coaches John Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana, a married couple, allegedly intervened in an attempt to prevent the girl’s family from coming forward.
French Olympic figure skater Morgan Cipres (left) is being investigated by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for the alleged abuse of a 13-year-old female amateur. Coaches John Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana (right, pictured in 2005), a married couple, allegedly intervened in an attempt to prevent the girl’s family from coming forward
Morgan Cipres (left) and his skating partner Vanessa James (center) were coached by John Zimmerman (right) who is accused of harassing the alleged victim to convince her to stay silent. Cipres and James finished fifth at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang
The three coaches allegedly engaged in a cover-up in 2018 as Cipres continued preparing for the 2018 games, where he and his partner Vanessa James finished fifth.
The girl claims she was harassed for weeks by Zimmerman and Fontana, who told her that she was a ‘pretty girl,’ adding that ‘men have their needs.’
Dispenza is accused of threatening the girl, who claimed, ‘If I said something, he said I would never skate again,’ according to USA Today.
Coach Silvia Fontana is accused of harassing the alleged victim to keep her from revealing her allegations against Morgan Cipres
USA Today obtained an email from the alleged victim’s tutor to a psychologist who worked with the girl.
‘Please ask her to share with you the many statements that have been made to her over the past few weeks (mostly by John) in an attempt to manipulate or scare her into keeping quiet,’ the tutor wrote. ‘She has been told that telling will place a target on her back with French fans, that she is the type of girl who does this (collect pics), that she has been asking for it by her clothing choices, that her dad is an attorney and imagine what he will do if he finds out, that she will destroy his career and that of his partner, and much more.’
The psychiatrist, Dara Bushman, told USA Today that she followed the correct procedure: ‘I did what I was bound to do ethically. I contacted the parents. I contacted the authorities. I wanted to make sure the child was safe.’
U.S. Center for SafeSport does not comment on specific matters of its investigations.
When contacted by USA Today, Cipres told the paper, ‘I’m sorry, I cannot talk to you.’
The alleged incident took place at a rink in in Wesley Chapel, Florida, where Morgan Cipres was training in 2017 in preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics
These allegations follow claims from American figure skater Ashley Wagner, who claimed in August that she was sexually assaulted by John Coughlin, a fellow American skater who committed suicide earlier this year after a former partner accused him of sexual abuse.
In an interview with USA Today, the 28-year-old Wagner says Coughlin assaulted her at a house party near the skating team’s camp in Colorado Springs back in 2008, when she was 17 and he was 22.
After she decided to sleep at the house, Wagner claims, Coughlin crawled into her bed and began kissing her neck.
‘I pretended to be deep asleep, hoping he would stop,’ she said. ‘He didn’t. When his hands started to wander, when he started touching me, groping my body, I tried to shift around so that he would think I was waking up and would stop. He didn’t.’
Wagner explained that she did not try to get away at first because she was ‘absolutely paralyzed in fear.’
‘I then felt myself starting to cry, and I knew I had to make a choice,’ she told USA Today. ‘I opened my eyes and pulled away from him as he kissed my neck. I grabbed his invading hand, and I told him to stop. And he did. He looked at me for a few seconds, quietly got up and left the room. All of this happened over the period of about five minutes. That is such a small amount of time, but it’s haunted me ever since.
‘The next morning, he acted like nothing happened, so I acted like nothing happened. I thought that maybe I had misinterpreted it all. In 2008, I didn’t have the knowledge and empowerment that came with the #MeToo movement. No one had explained consent to me. Something that was so ambiguous then is very clear now.
‘I was sexually assaulted.’
Wagner won an Olympic team bronze medal in 2014 and is now retired from competitive skating. She says she feared speaking out earlier because she competes in a sport where judges determine success.