Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter has been accused of groping two-time Olympic gold medalist and former USA goalkeeper Hope Solo. The shotstopper, 36, claims Blatter “grabbed her ass” just moments before she took to the stage at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony in January 2013.
During an interview with Portuguese outlet Expresso, the 202-capped star revealed how she was left in “shock” following the footy chief’s actions “right before I went on stage,” she alleged. Solo went on present the Fifa women’s world player of the year award alongside the 81-year-old at the glitzy ceremony to her international team-mate Abby Wambach.
Representatives for Blatter, who was forced to quit his role as football’s most-powerful man in 2015 amid a bribery scandal, deny the star’s claims as “ridiculous”. But Solo elaborated further, telling The Guardian: “I was in shock and completely thrown off. I had to quickly pull myself together to present my team-mate with the biggest award of her career and celebrate with her in that moment, so I completely shifted my focus to Abby.” She says that she has never raised the issue before publicly as she wanted to speak directly to the Swiss over the shocking incident.
Solo added: “I speak out directly [with people] when things like that happen. In other cases, for instance, I’ve told my teammates: ‘Don’t ever f**king touch me! Don’t do it’. It has been in the showers, it’s been in the locker room… I usually speak directly with the person. In the case of Sepp Blatter, I went on the stage, I was nervous for the presentation… It was the Ballon D’Or I was presenting. After that I didn’t see him, and that was kind of bad. I didn’t get to tell him directly ‘Don’t ever touch me.’
That’s the way I’ve always handled things. Directly. And I wish more female athletes would speak out about their own experiences. It’s rampant, it’s not just in Hollywood, it’s probably all over the place.”
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