On Thursday, November 4, 31 year-old soccer player Kheira Hamraoui was attacked outside of her home in Paris. Hamraoui, who plays soccer for Paris St.-Germain Football Club, was left with multiple injuries after experiencing a terrifying attack following a celebratory dinner with her teammates. Paris St.-Germain F.C, often referred to as PSG, is a top football club based in Paris that was celebrating an undefeated season at a team dinner (New York Times).
After this celebratory dinner, Hamraoui’s teammate, 26 year-old Aminata Diallo, offered to give Hamraoui and a third teammate a ride home, as all three live in Chatou, a suburb outside of Paris. At around 10:30 p.m, the teammates arrived at Hamraoui’s house. Hamraoui was then violently dragged out of the passenger seat of Diallo’s car by two masked men. According to the French police, Hamraoui was brutally beaten with a metal bar for a few minutes, specifically targeting her legs. Strangely, Diallo was peacefully restrained and obtained no injuries in this attack. The goal of this attack was not to rob either of the women, as they had nothing stolen from them. The only clear objective was to injure Hamraoui. While Hamraoui was in the hospital recovering, Diallo had the opportunity to start in PSG’s match on Tuesday, November 9, against Real Madrid, a professional football club based in Spain. By the morning of Wednesday, November 10, Aminata Diallo was arrested in her home as a suspect in this case (New York Times). Diallo had a clear motive: both Diallo and Hamraoui were vying for the same spot in the center midfield position on their team, and Diallo was able to replace Hamraoui in the starting lineup after Hamraoui was hospitalized. On Thursday, November 11, Diallo was released from police custody without charges. According to the Versailles prosecutor’s office, this investigation is still ongoing (CNN).
This attack is reminiscent of the allegations against Tonya Harding, a former United States figure skater. In 1994, Harding was accused of setting up an assault on rival figure skater, Nancy Kerrigan who was attacked on January 6 by a man with a police baton, and Kerrigan was then forced to withdraw from the U.S Figure Skating Championships. After the withdrawal of Kerrigan, Harding was able to earn gold in these championships, earning herself a spot on the 1994 U.S Olympic Figure Skating team. Later, at the Lillehammer games, Kerrigan finished 2nd, earning a silver medal, where Harding finished 8th.. Shortly after the attack, Harding’s bodyguard, Shawn Eckhardt, confessed to his involvement in the attack on Kerrigan. This confession incriminated Shane Stant, the hitman hired, as well as Jeff Gillooly, Harding’s ex-husband, and Derrick Smith, who drove the getaway car for Stant following the attack. Harding has denied being involved in the attack, but did plead guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution, earning her a $160,000 fine, along with being banned from the United States Figure Skating Association (Biography.com).
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/12/football/aminata-diallo-out-of-poilice-custody-spt-intl/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/10/sports/soccer/psg-women-attack-aminata-diallo.html
https://www.biography.com/news/tonya-harding-nancy-kerrigan-attack-photos
