Olympic coach Miguel Ángel Millán arrested for sexual assault of 14-year old athlete
According to El Pais, the former Olympian and athletics coach has been charged with sex abuse of a minor after a 19-year old athlete came forward over an incident that occurred five years ago.
Following the sex abuse scandal that has rocked English football in recent weeks, a prominent Spanish athletics coach has now been arrested for sexual assault of a minor, according to El País.
Miguel Angel Millán, former coach of Olympic gold medal winning decathlete Antonio Peñalver, was arrested last Monday at his house in Tenerife, reports the newspaper.
Millán, 66, who was until recently a member of the technical committee of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA), was charged after a 19-year old athlete came forward to police accusing the coach of an assault that happened five years ago, when the athlete was 14. Since the allegation was made, others have also come forward with accusations of abuse by the coach, says El País.
Five other young athletes come forward
The young man, who has decided to remain anonymous, only opened up to his family in January and subsequently went to the authorities. After initial charges were brought against Millán earlier this year, a judge closed the case due to lack of corroboration over the allegation. However, when the case was reopened in November, five other young athletes who had previously remained silent also reported abuses at the hands Millán.
Since the reopening of the case, the RFEA decided to dispense with Millán’s services, El País confirmed. He will face a court hearing on Thursday morning.