Laval swimmer Mary-Sophie Harvey said she made the decision to publicly reveal that she had been drugged without her knowledge at the Budapest World Aquatics Championships last month in order to put an end to the stigma that usually afflicts victims.
The incident is said to have taken place on a party used to close competitions in Hungary, and it brought together swimmers and various guests. Sadly, to this day, the 22-year-old said she has no recollection of a “four to six hour period” that evening.
Harvey said she had “maybe four drinks during the evening”, and said she never really felt that she had been drugged. She added that no personal effects had been stolen from her, except for a disposable camera – which would have probably allowed her to mentally redo the thread of the evening.
“It was people who were there with me who told me about the evening, and by putting all the little bits of the story together I was able to get an idea of what had happened. I didn’t feel like I was part of that story, because I had no memory, ”Harvey first said by videoconference on Friday.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know how I ended up outside, in the street. A friend told me that I kept telling her not to leave me alone, and I was really insistent about it. She went to get two other friends to help her, and I couldn’t say when I lost consciousness, but they helped me back to the hotel,” she continued.
Harvey, who won bronze with her Canadian teammates in the 4x200m relay in Budapest, woke up the next day with a sprained rib, concussion and numerous bruises. Which made him fear the worst.
The main interested party, who still feels a lot of shame today to have lived such a story, nevertheless tried to resume her daily life. But after a training session, seeing her injuries, she could not contain herself and burst into tears in the arms of a teammate.
She was then recommended to seek help, which turned out to be more difficult than expected. Harvey also stressed that she would like there to be more resources to help victims like her — according to Harvey, there are only two specialized clinics in Montreal, and they would be difficult to reach.
As a result, by the time she returned home on June 27, decided to get to the bottom of it, and ran into the difficulties of the system, Harvey was unable to submit to a toxicology test. And the substance was gone from his system.
She believes, however, that people, perhaps because they are ignorant, tend to judge the victim rather than try to identify the culprit. Even here, in Montreal.
“When I got back here, and for the week that followed, I was ashamed and I felt that the judgment of others was very present,” she confided. I was told I probably drank too much, to watch my drink, to be careful, and some even told me I might have been looking for it. All the victims of this kind of incident have heard this before, and I think this is one of the main reasons why people are afraid to report these situations.
“And unfortunately, I think victims remain locked in fear of judgment by others. Because whether you like it or not, people become victims due to circumstances that are beyond your control,” she continued.
She specified that several other athletes were also drugged during this evening, without specifying the number or the identity. His current approach also aims to encourage them to go out publicly, “so that we can be more careful and aware of the dangers that await people at parties”.
Harvey said she did not file a complaint with the Budapest police, due to the complexity of the process, but said FINA had opened an investigation into the evening. Swimming Canada is also involved in order to shed light on this matter.
“Swimming Canada is currently collecting information on this incident and has initiated an independent investigation process,” said organization spokesperson Nathan White, adding that to his knowledge this was the first time that such an incident was happening within the federation.
The Quebecer shared her experience on Instagram earlier this week, and clarified that she had thought long and hard before sharing her misadventure publicly. A decision she does not regret.