Mary-Sophie Harvey is recovering as best she can from the trauma she suffered after she was apparently drugged without her knowledge during a party to celebrate the end of the Budapest World Swimming Championships on June 25.
Posted at 5:58 p.m.
“It’s getting better and better, I’m going one day at a time,” she told The PressThursday afternoon.
“Mentally, it’s better this week than last week. Last week’s Mary couldn’t have spoken to the media, couldn’t have released what was released [mercredi]. I think there is progress. Talking about it helps me a little in a way. »
The day before, in a lengthy Instagram post, the 22-year-old swimmer recounted how she had lost her memory of a “four to six hour” period of the evening that took place in the Hungarian capital. The event brought together the majority of participants at the Worlds, but other people were also in the establishment, said Harvey.
Coming off her best ever competition, she didn’t want to overindulge given her upcoming appearance at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham at the end of the month.
“In total, I had four drinks throughout the evening, which is not a lot,” she explained. Colleagues, however, celebrated louder. The Quebecer took care of some of them, as it is in her “nature”.
Meanwhile, she left her glasses uncovered on a table. She thinks that’s when one of her drinks could have been tampered with.
This is the possibility that I see. Something could have been put in one of my glasses at that time because it really was day and night in minutes. A friend of mine told me that I was taking care of some people and then she found me on the street.
Mary Sophie Harvey
Harvey spent the majority of the evening with members of the France team, to which she is close. It was a tricolor swimmer, after looking for her for many minutes, who discovered her outside.
“Looks like I kept telling her not to leave me alone, to stay with me. I was really insistent on that. »
The French swimmer went to get two people to help her. When they returned, Harvey was unconscious. “They had to take me back and transport me to my hotel room. »
Upon his return, the Canadian team members prepared to take a bus to the airport for their flight home. When he woke up, Harvey was surrounded by the team manager and the open water group doctor.
“I was really lost. I had no idea what had happened. Above all, I was ashamed. I was not in control of my body. I had little bits of history that they told me. It’s a story where I was the main character, but I had no memory that I was in the story. This is the part that scared me and still scares me the most. »
Swimming Canada staff deemed her fit to return the same day to Montreal as planned. “I was completely lucid, I didn’t feel like I was just after a day or anything. I was perfectly fine to fly. »
Upon returning to her apartment, before jumping into the shower, she discovered a dozen large bruises all over her body. “I wondered: did something happen? I did not know. »
She called Katerine Savard, her great friend and teammate at the CAMO club, who shared her room in Budapest. She wishes to speak with her doctor mother.
At her suggestion, Harvey contacted a sexual assault support service in the Montreal area. She told her story as best she could to the person who answered her.
“She told me that there were two places in Montreal that deal with this kind of situation. There was the emergency room at Notre-Dame Hospital, but she didn’t advise me to go there because it was useless. I could also call to make an appointment at a specialized clinic. »
She did after hanging up, but she got a voicemail. She was called back two days later.
The “lack of resources” to respond to victims is one of the main reasons that prompted her to go public with her story. “I would like to see progress in this area. »
She eventually visited another clinic to get a medical evaluation. Along with the bruising, she was diagnosed with a mild concussion and rib sprain on the right side of her chest.
Does she think she was sexually assaulted? “I dare to hope not,” she replied. From what I heard, I was still with people most of the time. Of course, the big question remains how I managed to pick myself up in the street. Unfortunately, I don’t have answers to these questions. I might have them one day. For now, that’s it. »
Harvey especially wants her testimony to make people aware of an increasingly common situation, according to what she has learned.
“I didn’t post this with the intention of being a victim and seeking sympathy. It’s really more to educate people. It is still a taboo subject which unfortunately is not talked about enough. I think everyone I know knows someone who’s been through this. It’s sad to hear that. »
She also heard that people at the same party would have suffered the same fate. By opening up, perhaps others will follow her example and shed additional light on the course of events, she hopes.
The impact of her publication, widely reported in the media, overthrew her. “Having received several messages from people who have been through this, I see that I am not alone. They are not alone either. I want to use that to make people realize that it’s something you shouldn’t be ashamed of. »
Under the circumstances, the native of Trois-Rivières is struggling to savor her first medal in the relay and her first individual final at the World Championships.
“I was looking at the medal and it didn’t bother me. I felt present, but not in my body. Or else I was present, but in a body that didn’t belong to me. »
Harvey receives support from his family, members of his entourage and Swimming Canada, which has launched an investigation.
She resumed training, but had to interrupt it on Wednesday because she contracted COVID-19.
“The training was quite therapeutic. It’s a way for me to quit. I’m on hold for now, but my goal remains the Commonwealth Games. I plan to take part in it at the end of the month. »