Ex-Olympic coach charged with rape and assault of a child

Former Olympic coach Vicente Modahl, the husband of I’m A Celebrity star and Commonwealth Games champion Diane Modahl, has been charged with several serious sexual offences involving a child, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed.

The 65-year-old Norwegian national, also known as Vicente Leiva-Modahl, faces multiple charges for alleged offences said to have taken place between 2012 and 2024, as per Daily Mail Sports.

According to the CPS, the charges include two counts of raping a child, five counts of sexually assaulting a child, two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and two counts of assault by penetration of a child.

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In addition, Modahl has been charged with two counts of raping an adult female, two counts of sexually assaulting an adult female, one count of causing an adult female to engage in sexual activity, two counts of assault by penetration of an adult female, and one count of controlling and coercive behaviour.

The CPS stated that all charges relate to the same woman.

Vicente Modahl, who was his wife’s coach during her professional athletics career, is scheduled to appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

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Diane Modahl, a former 800m runner, won gold at the 1990 Commonwealth Games and represented Great Britain in four consecutive Olympic Games—1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000. She later appeared in the third season of ITV’s I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2004, alongside Katie Price, Kerry Katona, and Peter Andre.

Following her retirement from competitive athletics in 2002, Diane and Vicente co-authored The Diane Modahl Story – Going the Distance, a book chronicling her journey as an elite athlete.

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In 2010, the couple founded the Diane Modahl Sports Foundation, a charity dedicated to helping young people from underprivileged backgrounds access sporting opportunities and coaching. Eight years later, Diane was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to sport and youth development.

Diane Modahl is also the cousin of world champion boxer Chris Eubank, who appeared in the fifteenth season of I’m A Celebrity in 2015.