Pushed into the room and raped by her swimming instructor. It is the nightmare that a young swimmer from Udine, who was 14 years old at the time, would have experienced on 10 August 2021. In those days she was in Rome with the team to take part in the Italian swimming championships at the Foro Italico.
For his coach, O. R., 28 years old, the public prosecutor requested a few days ago that he be sent to trial on charges of sexual assault.
The mother
“For us it was a double pain”, says the girl’s mother in an interview with Messaggero. “We realized that the person we trusted and loved had taken advantage of our daughter.” The woman tells what happened in those days: “They left for Rome for the Italian swimming championships, we also left but we couldn’t watch the race due to Covid. We saw it in streaming”. The race ends with a victory. “My daughter wins, so much so that when we went to pick her up at the hotel it seemed strange that there was only her and her friend in the hall”, says the mother who, however, did not find the coach in the hall. “We asked where is Orazio? Because we expected to find him there, celebrating.”
The coach: “He provoked me”
The girl carries that terrible secret with her for months but her parents soon notice that something is wrong: “Time passes, my daughter starts high school but skips swimming, some mornings she doesn’t go to school. Even when we were at the table and we happened to talk about the coach, I saw the annoyance on his face. It wasn’t like before. He seemed annoyed by everything that was the norm.” So, her family decides to provide her with psychological support by taking her to the local health authority. It is during an interview with a psychologist that the truth emerges. After years of investigations, the request for indictment has now been reached. Her mother later confronted the coach: “They were at some races in Riccione and I went to talk to him also to give him a chance, but when he told me “what should I do? Always there provoking me” I perceived that yes, they were not lies. The investigations continued, up to the evidentiary hearing and what was finally requested by the prosecutor”.
The society
The young girl’s mother also remembers the indifference of the club and her teammates: “My daughter is one of the names to beat. However, the other parents greet you by the behavior of their children, you understand what is said at home. Federica has changed clubs and instead of getting discouraged and throwing herself on the ground, she reacted by remaining alone. Her old team mates never called her, the old club immediately made a stand.”
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