“Finally, finally, finally! “Launches Danielle Bouchard from the outset. The boxing trainer is currently experiencing a real “liberation”.
Posted at 4:29 p.m.
“A liberation of being able to speak. »
On Wednesday, Boxing Canada’s director of high performance, Daniel Trépanier, was openly accused of creating a “toxic climate” within the national program. The letter was signed by more than 120 people, including coaches, former athletes, officials and members of provincial federations.
He is accused of problems of harassment, favouritism, security and transparency on events that have taken place since 2008.
And we demand his departure. Because yes, despite recent revelations and disappointing results at the Olympic Games for decades, Daniel Trépanier is still in office.
On this subject, “decisions will be made in the best interest of boxing in Canada and its athletes”, declares Yvon Michel, general administrator on the board of directors of Boxing Canada.
Joined by The Press on the phone on Friday afternoon, Michel affirms that the CA had “several meetings [vendredi] “. “Given that[il fait] part of a [C.A.] and that'[il] must be united”, Yvon Michel cannot say more for the moment.
“We have to evaluate several things,” adds the promoter.
“Crossing the Barrier of Silence”
Danielle Bouchard is among those who put their name to Wednesday’s document.
At the end of the line, the one who trains Kim Clavel in particular is delighted to have “made the decision to [s]’open up and cross the barrier of silence’.
I say to myself: finally. Since 2008 I’ve been in the training business and can never say anything. I can never express myself, because I always want to protect my athletes. I’m always afraid of the repercussions of my comments, that what I’m going to say will have consequences for my athletes.
Danielle Bouchard
Kim Clavel spoke on the subject in a Facebook post on Thursday evening. She does indeed speak of “favoritism”, but also of “injustice”. She says she saw “dreams darken”.
“I’ve seen Boxing Canada put obstacles in the way of promising, talented, dedicated athletes. I heard horrible, sexist, aberrant remarks, ”wrote the Quebec boxer.
“I saw Daniel Trépanier gradually put aside my trainer Danielle Bouchard (appreciated by all), prevent me from being able to have her in my corner in certain competitions […]. That, he built regulations. »
Currently on vacation, Kim Clavel could not respond to our interview request.
But his publication on Facebook is part of a veritable plethora of testimonies since Wednesday. As if the lid had been removed from a boiling pot, and its contents were already overflowing.
And from everything she read in the media this week, Danielle Bouchard “didn’t learn anything new”.
“I speak for myself, but there is not one thing that I was not aware of, she underlines. […] I’ve had athletes who cried in my arms. Who cried, cried. I had to rebuild teams because morale was completely destroyed. »
” What is the solution ? »
In response to the recent revelations, Boxing Canada said the federation had already “taken swift action over the past few months to improve the transparency and governance of the organization”.
A “High Performance Advisory Group” was created […] in order to ensure the transparency of decisions” at this level. It’s also said to have separated “the role of high performance director from coaching responsibilities,” one of the big complaints in Wednesday’s complaint.
But Danielle Bouchard is not impressed.
They told us black and white that there had been real changes. But none, and I mean no change has happened.
Danielle Bouchard
The former boxer knows what she’s talking about. She had signed another letter, in 2015, which denounced essentially the same thing as today.
“We made a move, and it really fell through. We had practically been met individually to say to us: “Come on, that doesn’t make sense.” »
“Me, at that time, I still had a relationship to say what I thought of Daniel. I’ve always wanted to change things. And I remember that in 2015, I told him that I had signed. Because everything we say, everything we try to change, it doesn’t change. What is the solution ? »
Wednesday’s letter was notably sent to Sport Canada, the Executive Director of Own the Podium, Federal Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge… and several media outlets.
Contacting the media, “it was our last resort, our last way out,” she says.
“A little incompetence”
It must also be said that in addition to what her athletes are going through, Danielle Bouchard herself bears the brunt of this toxic environment in the federation.
“I always had four female athletes who were on the national team, for almost 8 to 10 years. I was constantly confronted with the character. […] Rules were created to prevent me from working with my athletes. »
“I made the choice to go to the national team, because the majority of girls will be there. And there, because you coach on the national team, you no longer have the right to coach your daughters on a personal level. Completely absurd regulations, when you think about the well-being of the athlete. »
That’s what she blames him for.
He never worked based on performance factors [des athlètes], that is, with psychological well-being. On the contrary, [il s’agissait] always putting them down, changing their ways of thinking, showing them that it was not they who had the power, but him.
Danielle Bouchard
She says that one year, only two of her four Canadian champions were able to go to the World Championships.
“You can imagine. I have four girls that I work with on a daily basis, they train together, they are motivated, and I am told that they are splitting my team in two. Why ? For criteria that made no sense. One of the criteria was that Myriam Da Silva Rondeau was too old at the time, that she couldn’t afford to dream of the Olympic Games. Then she finally went there in 2021 in Tokyo. You see how twisted it is. »
Danielle Bouchard received her level 4, awarded according to the National Coaching Certification Program, in 2012. But still to this day, she fights for obtaining this level to be recognized.
“We like at each Canadian championship to put a bracelet on me telling me that I am level 3. Each time, I say no, I am not level 3, I am level 4.”
“Instead of having a federation that says: wow, I have developed a coach who will have his level 4, to be proud of it, [de reconnaître] this beautiful prestige, on the contrary, we hit you on the head and we say no. »
The question that comes to mind, in the end, is very simple. Why ?
“I’m not going to be nice in what I’m going to say, but I think there’s a bit of incompetence. »
She qualifies her remarks in the same breath.
“He is excellent in bureaucracy, in reports, in all that logistics. He has great qualities, we must not hide it. But on the other hand, unfortunately, he claimed to be a national team coach. He played several roles. If he had been content to be really a technical director of high performance and he had surrounded himself with competent coaches, assistants who have expertise, with a great background in coaching, I think that would have had a different scenario. »
“It all starts with the athlete,” she sums up. It is the athlete who should be at the heart, at the center of any organization. And there, what we feel, what we feel, is completely the opposite. These are all decisions that are made against the athlete. »