She saw him like a father. That was exactly the problem.
A young athlete arrives in Athens from the provinces to join the national team. A senior sports official — a man she trusted and regarded almost as a member of the family — invites her into his office to “talk about athletics.”
What happened next remained locked inside her for years.
In September 2021, Olympic triple jump champion Pigi Devetzi spoke publicly for the first time about surviving an attempted sexual assault by a senior sports official at the beginning of her career. She described how she remained silent about the experience for years, until she finally found the strength to speak out. Her testimony came only a few months after Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou had shared her own experience publicly, adding another powerful voice to Greece’s #MeToo movement in sport.
We are not sharing this story for sensationalism. We are sharing it because it shows how trust itself can become a tool for abuse — and why athletes must have access to clear and safe ways to report concerns about anyone who holds a position of authority over them, regardless of how much they trust that person.
✅ Trust is not a reason to lower our guard — it is a reason to build stronger safeguarding mechanisms.
✅ Every athlete deserves a safe and independent way to speak out.
✅ Believe survivors. Silence protects perpetrators, not victims.
CoViS – Combating Violence in Sport is an Erasmus+ Sport project co-funded by the European Union.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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