Paris (AFP)

The marathon runner Clemence Calvin, suspected of evading an unexpected check in Morocco on March 27, 2019, arrived Wednesday morning at the headquarters of the French Agency for the Fight against Doping (AFLD) in Paris for her hearing before the sanctions of the instance, found an AFP journalist.

The vice-champion of Europe 2018, smiling, was accompanied by her lawyer Arnaud Pericard. Her husband and coach Samir Dahmani, suspected of intervening between Calvin and the controllers and helping him escape, is also summoned by the anti-doping judges. Both face a maximum of four years of suspension.

"It's a time of explanation and meeting with the Agency, said Pericard when he arrived at AFLD headquarters, a time that Clemence has been waiting for now for almost eight months. . "

The hearing will be held in camera, unless otherwise requested by Camp Calvin.

AFLD and Calvin, suspended provisionally, deliver totally opposite versions of what happened on March 27th. For the anti-doping authority, the licensee of Martigues was apprehended in the street by a trio of controllers, who had moved especially to Morocco. After driving them to a gym, she falsified them with the help of Samir Dahmani.

According to Calvin's version, which was firmly refuted by the AFLD, the three controllers did not present themselves as such but as police officers and ordered him to take them to her husband. The athlete filed a complaint in Morocco for "violence and threats", targeting the director of controls of the AFLD, Damien Ressiot.

Since then, the controllers have counter-attacked on the judicial ground, filing a complaint for slanderous denunciation, and the AFLD is suing the athlete for defamation.

Suspended temporarily, Calvin was deprived of the Doha World Athletics Championships. Her suspension had been lifted for the first time before the Council of State because of a procedural flaw and the Frenchwoman was able to run the Paris marathon on April 14th. She then set a new French record (2:23:41), but the time was not approved because of the disciplinary procedure.

Since then, the French athletics has suffered two new blows with the revelations of an investigation of the AFLD for the European Champion of the 10,000 m Morhad Amdouni, package in Qatar, and the positive control at the EPO of the specialist of the 3.000 m steeple Ophélie Claude-Boxberger.

© 2019 AFP