Path to the podium and to catharsis

Posts full of "bravos" and "respect" flooded the internet. As a four-time Olympian, winner of a gold medal in Athens in 2004 and a bronze in Beijing four years later, Sofia Bekatorou is used to praise. This time, however, the praise was not about her sailing prowess. Speaking at an online conference organized by the Ministry of Culture and Sport titled "Start to Talk - Break the Silence - Speak, Do Not Tolerate," she spoke about the abuse she suffered as a young athlete. But, let's call a spade a spade: "abuse" is a euphemism for what clearly was rape.

She was 21 and he was an official of the Hellenic Sailing Federation. "In my young, innocent mind, the only solution was to keep silent and pretend nothing had happened," she said. "With a lot of work, therapy and analysis, I managed to accept my responsibility for not speaking then, so that this official could be banned from...