Former skier Joël Chenal, Olympic vice-champion in Turin 2006, accused of sexual harassment of a minor by seven women

He allegedly acted with impunity for over a decade, without ever being questioned since. Joël Chenal, Olympic giant slalom runner-up at the 2006 Turin Olympics who became a coach, allegedly sexually harassed several underage girls, both in federal and private facilities. This is what a Le Monde investigation published this Friday, July 4, demonstrates. The article is based on accusations from at least seven female skiers, all minors at the time of the events.

Taken together, their testimonies allow us to establish a "same modus operandi" . Namely: an initial approach via social networks, "would then follow flattery, discussions about skiing, then, quite quickly, would arrive text messages containing comments or photos of a sexual nature, accompanied by the insistent request to keep the conversations secret" , details the daily. For some of them, there were even requests for interviews at his home or elsewhere. Contacted by Le Monde , Joël Chenal admits to sexual exchanges but denies any action.

Beyond the facts, the investigation reveals dysfunctions "at all levels" of the ski federation. "Rumors had been circulating in the community [...] since the early 2000s, without anything coming out," reports Le Monde . Executives of the French Ski Federation (FFS) and other officials of the Alpine committees at the time were hiding behind the classifications without follow-up of two investigations carried out against him in 2009 and 2015, in addition to other complaints that did not lead to anything, to explain the fact of having turned a blind eye to Chenal's behavior, or even having knowingly allowed him to practice with young girls. He remained in the federal fold until 2017.

Questioned as former president of the FFS at the time of the events, Michel Vion, who is also the Secretary General of the International Ski Federation today, admits to failings: "Our mistake was to stick to what emerged from the gendarmerie investigation. We should have been more responsive, more forceful. The fault is collective, even if I take full responsibility for it personally." He pleads for a different era than 2025: "Today, we are extremely vigilant about this kind of behavior."

Just like the FFS: "This case must be put into perspective, at a time when the awareness-raising and anti-violence measures in sport were not comparable to those of today . From now on, all cases submitted to the federation are subject to serious follow-up."