The former trainer of an Argentine Olympic sailor was arrested in Buenos Aires on Tuesday after the athlete and others claimed he sexually assaulted them in their teens, according to judicial sources.
Leandro Tulia, 53, was arrested on Monday at his home in the capital, near the Olivos Yacht Club, where he coached for almost two decades until he was let go over the allegations.
Tulia coached Eugenia Bosco, 27, who won silver in the mixed Nacra 17 event at the 2024 Games in Paris, one of Argentina’s three medals.
She filed a complaint against Tulia in October, two months after her Olympic victory, and spoke of the alleged assault in a January interview with La Nacion.
“I don’t know how to explain it, but it happened and was beyond my control. I was 11 or 12 years old at the time, and I put it behind until a few years ago when I realised what had happened,” she explained.
The claimed abuse occurred during competition trips or while she stayed overnight at the yacht club for training. She was living in a city 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Buenos Aires.
At least six other women, all of whom were minors at the time of the alleged occurrences from 2010 to 2013, made accusations after the interview was published, prosecutor Lida Osores Soler told AFP in January.
Tulia’s lawyer, Daniel Mazzocchini, confirmed to AFP that he will face a court on Tuesday to address four charges.
Mazzocchini has previously stated that the case would be difficult to prove because the claimed circumstances went back over 15 years.
