CONI's General Prosecutor's Office for Sport has today opened an official investigation into Andrea Facci following comments about conversations with Tecchi

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Italian gymnastics federation president's conversations about gymnast Parrini leaked: ‘She's a beautiful pussy’

Andrea Facci, the president of the Italian Gymnastics Federation (FGI) has been under fire for the past month for phone conversations that have come to light with the federation's former president, Gherardo Tachi, in which both made sexist comments about Italian gymnast Ginevra Parrini, whom he described as ‘a beautiful pussy’.

The conversations came to light in the wake of the investigation into the alleged abuse of Emanuela Maccarani, the former Italian national team coach who had been in charge for more than 30 years. In 2022, gymnasts Nina Corrandini and Anna Basta revealed the humiliations the coach put them through and were joined by several other athletes. Ginevra Parrini, one of them, confirmed the version of the complainants in several Italian media, which increased the controversy.

As a result, the Monza public prosecutor's office began to investigate possible abuse, and it was then that a phone call between the president and former president of the IGF was intercepted, criticising Parrini and referring to her with sexist and offensive terms and comments, which were soon published in the Italian media.

The offensive conversation started with Tecchi, then president of the Federation: "She was never a butterfly (term used to refer to Italian gymnasts)! Parrini did twenty days of training and then nothing else, not even with the national team! She's a beautiful pussy... and she was interested in being seen (on television)‘

To which Facci, then sports director and now president of the men's artistic gymnastics federation, replied with a laugh: ’She's a beautiful, beautiful pussy‘

’I'll tell you something. Corrado Dones (president of the regional committee of the federation in Emilia-Romagna) wrote me a message and said: “I don't know who the hell this Parrini is, but I would make her president”. I said to him: “Corrado, just because she's hot, you can't make her president”. And he said, “I don't even know who she is but she's hot,”" Facci added. Tecchi continued: ‘In the first interview she was in trousers, the second in a skirt and the third with a mini-skirt that showed up to her soul’

Facci's continuity in the presidency is compromised by these sexist attitudes and has generated great controversy in the country. On the other hand, Giovanni Malagò, president of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) commented that he had spoken to Facci, who told him that he had apologised to the gymnast and admitted his mistake: ‘Facci assured me that he had spoken to the athlete and apologised to her after recognising that he had made a mistake’, said the president.