A real bombshell has rocked Dutch athletics, just weeks before the start of the World Championships. A year after putting her career on hold, Zoë Sedney reveals the real reasons for this long hiatus. She explains how a sex tape, made without her knowledge, pushed her into a serious depression without the federation taking any action.

Now 23, Zoë Sedney was one of the great hopes of Dutch athletics. A former two-time European junior champion, she had achieved the feat of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics at the tender age of 20, and she was also part of the 4x100 relay at the Budapest World Championships. She seemed to have a bright future ahead of her, until she decided, to everyone's surprise, to end her career.

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The Dutch media quickly realized that something had happened, and a year later, the athlete revealed more about the reasons that led her to make this decision. She had been filmed, without her knowledge, having sex at Papendal, the renowned Dutch athlete training center. And the images from this sex tape were shared.

“I was flabbergasted.”

Distraught and bewildered, she decided to hang up her spikes, but to remain silent about the scandal. Until now. Because she finally broke her silence to tell her story in an interview with Runner's World.

A story that begins in September 2023, when she was invited by the Dutch Athletics Federation for a conversation of which she was completely unaware. “That's how I learned that there was a video of me having an intimate relationship with one of my training partners and that the images had been circulated. I was shocked. I asked myself so many questions. It was terrible,” she says.

The athlete, whose identity is unknown, later admitted that he had filmed the incident, but denied circulating the footage. Sedney thought he would be suspended or sanctioned, but that wasn't the case. A few months later, he was even part of the Dutch team for the World Indoor Championships.

Zoë Sedney, however, doesn't understand. “There was no discussion, no explanation. Nothing ever gave me the impression that he had learned from what had happened, even though it was impossible for me to start training with him again. When I learned he was coming back, I went to see the technical director of the federation, who told me that we should train together again after the winter season.”

“A feeling of total helplessness”

“I was angry. I felt completely helpless. I don't get angry easily, I usually manage to control my emotions. But this was too much. After everything that had happened, I should have started training with him again? No one from the federation had bothered to inform me, and that was absolutely unacceptable.”

The young Dutch woman considered filing a complaint, but when she realized the process could take up to two years, she decided not to. The federation, for its part, investigated to try to understand who had circulated the images, but found nothing. “I had a major breakdown. I was taking antidepressants because things were really bad.”

But Zoë Sedney is now doing much better. She even says she's happier than ever. But she also needed to tell her story in "the most personal interview she's ever given." An interview that caused a stir in the Netherlands, but the national athletics federation declined to comment.

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