President to meet Bekatorou on Monday
Greek President of Greece Katerina Sakellaropoulou has invited retired Olympic sailing star Sofia Bekatorou at the Presidential Mansion on Monday, the Presidency announced on Sunday.
The invitation comes after Bekatorou, now 43, revealed that she had been sexually assaulted by a senior member of the country's sailing federation ahead of the 2000 Sydney Olympics when she was aged 21.
The meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Since Bekatorou came forward to recount her experience, an increasing number of athletes, from different sports, have issued statements of support. Some, like Niki Bakogianni, a silver medalist in the high jump at the Atlanta Olympics, have talked of their own experiences of sexual harassment at the hands of officials of their sports federation.
Two sailing federation officials resigned in protest at the federation's original response, which called Bekatorou's sexual assault an “unfortunate event” and appeared for blame her for taking so long to reveal it.
The resignations do not include the alleged perpetrator, Aristidis Adamopoulos, then and now a federation Vice-President. Adamopoulos, in a short statement, said he would abstain from his duties as federation representative to the Hellenic Olympic Committee “until the case is resolved.” The federation had asked for his resignation as vice-president, a position he's been holding since 1997.
