France rushed to defend Laure Manaudou, a swimming star and national heroine, yesterday after Italian rivals were blamed for circulating sexually explicit pictures and a video of her on the internet. Manaudou, 21, an Olympic and world record holder, became the latest celebrity to fall victim to internet embarrassment when images of her naked and in suggestive acts appeared on Sunday.

The episode followed a struggle by the swimmer in recent months to recover form for next summer’s Olympics after she ran away to Italy to be with a boyfriend and was then sacked by an Italian club for laziness. She left Luca Marin, the boyfriend, and returned to France last May.

On Monday Italian newspapers published some of the less lurid pictures in what the French regarded as an attempt to undermine their champion because she had spurned her friend and Italy. The authenticity of the pictures did not appear to be in doubt as their subject sported the same tattoos as those the swimmer has shown in public.

The former lovers had a public spat at the European short-course swimming championships in Hungary on Sunday after Manaudou, now with a new French boyfriend, threw Marin’s ring into the pool. Apparently flustered, she failed to win the 200 metres freestyle, although she had won gold medals in 100 metres backstroke and 400 metres freestyle. The French media blamed Marin for her second place.

As Manaudou’s lawyers attempted to halt the spread of the photographs, Marin denied that he was behind what the Italian press called the “porn pictures”. “I know nothing about the video and have only seen the photos,” he said. “It is ridiculous to think that it was me who put them there,” he told the Gazzetta dello Sport.

Marin also denied French reports that he had insulted Manaudou, Olympic gold medallist and holder of the world freestyle records for 200 and 400 metres. “They are inventions. I only said that she had done a very rude thing [by throwing the ring away] and that I was happy she was no longer my girlfriend,” he said.

L’Equipe, the French sports daily, said that Manaudou, who is known as “the French mermaid”, was the victim of an unspeakable affront. The swimmer — still France’s biggest hope of medals at the Beijing Games — said that she felt violated by the circulation of the pictures.

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