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The French biathlete Julia Simon was found guilty of theft and credit card fraud and handed a three-month suspended prison sentence by a French court on Friday.Simon was accused of repeatedly using the bank card of her France teammate, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, and that of a French team staff member to make online purchases totalling more than €2,000 (£1,371).“I can’t explain it. I don’t remember doing it. I can’t make sense of it,” the 29-year-old said during the hearing in Albertville, as quoted by local newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré. Simon was also fined €15,000 (£13,117) after she admitted the thefts during the hearing and offered apologies to the victims, local media reported.Friday’s ruling leaves a question mark over Simon’s participation at next year’s Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy. The French ski federation has said it took note of the court’s ruling and that its disciplinary commission would meet as soon as possible “to determine any disciplinary action at the federation level.”Julia Simon won four golds, including the women’s 15km individual competition, at this year’s world championship. Photograph: Denis Balibouse/ReutersSimon has claimed 10 world championship gold medals in her career – including four at the 2025 event in Switzerland – and finished third overall in the Biathlon World Cup earlier this year. She also won an Olympic silver medal for France in the mixed relay at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.In its statement, the federation said it will continue, “as it has since the case first came to light, to take all necessary measures to protect the interests of the athletes, the coaching staff, and the team environment.”skip past newsletter promotionThe best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s actionPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionBiathlon, which combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting, has featured at every Winter Olympics since 1960 and will have 11 medal events at the 2026 Games.
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