Paris (AFP)
The French Ophélie-Claude Boxberger, specialist of the 3,000 m steeplechase, has been tested positive to the EPO, announced Tuesday a source close to the file, confirming an information of specialized site Spe15.
The Public Health Unit of the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed the opening of a "preliminary investigation on October 14th of the counts of offenses against the legislation on doping and poisonous substances", a survey entrusted to Oclaesp (Office central fight against damage to the environment and public health) and following a report from the French Agency for Combating Doping (AFLD) on 11 October.
Contacted by AFP, the AFLD declined to comment.
Selected for the Doha Worlds (September 27-October 6), Ophélie-Claude Boxberger had left the competition without shining, in the series stage. But his name had been quoted in a very different context.
The one of the precipitate departure, for "personal reasons", of the medical director Jean-Michel Serra, leaving the Bleus with only one doctor available in full competition, failed on the sporting plan. The disclosure on social networks of photos attesting to his relationship with Ophélie-Claude Boxberger, which he had always denied, weakened him.
However, last June, Dr. Serra had already been pinned for worrying about the number of controls Boxberger had under AFLD, without informing his superiors.
The site Spe15 also makes a search of the home of the athlete, while newspapers Le Parisien and L'Equipe indicate that the gendarmes of the Oclaesp also went to the headquarters of the French Athletics Federation ( FFA).
The announcement of this positive test comes on the eve of the convocation before the anti-doping judges of another tricolor athlete, marathon runner Clemence Calvin, who will defend Wednesday with her husband and coach, Samir Dahmani, after evading a unannounced control in Morocco. A fault which she refutes but which can cost her dearly.
edy-arb-ole-fbr / dhe
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