Almost 180 people are being questioned in cases related to sexual assault in French sport, the country's sports minister Roxana Maracineanu said on Wednesday, following a wave allegations over recent months.

Around 90 legal proceedings are underway in relation to the cases, and 16 people are in custody, Maracineanu said after launching a national convention for the prevention of sexual violence in sport in February.

Forty national federations are affected with 98 percent of the victims under the age of 18 and 78 percent of them women.

Last year French ice skater Sarah Abitbol published a book in which she accused her former coach Gilles Beyer of raping her, sparking an outbreak of further allegations.

They led to the resignations of the president of France's ice skating federation Didier Gailhaguet and the chief of the country's skateboarding federation Nicolas Belloir.