Paris (AFP)
The Council of State maintained on Monday the provisional suspension of the specialist of the 3,000 m steeplechase Ophélie Claude-Boxberger, tested positive for EPO but whose stepfather assured to have doped it without his knowledge.
Seized in summary proceedings, the Council of State rejected all the arguments raised by the 31-year-old athlete who contested his provisional suspension. It had been tested positive for erythropoietin on September 18, then suspended from November 5.
Ophélie Claude-Boxberger claims her innocence and assures that her stepfather Alain Flaccus, who is part of his sports supervision, would have inoculated him with an injection of EPO without his knowledge, when she had dozed off after a massage. A version also delivered by Alain Flaccus during his police custody.
The Franc-Comtoise, multiple champion of France, filed a complaint for poisoning with the High Court of Montbéliard (Doubs) on December 17.
Ophélie Claude-Boxberger, who denounces a "machination", revealed the painful past which binds her to Alain Flaccus, explaining having years earlier filed then withdrawn a complaint against him for sexual assault.
Her mother's companion acted, she said, out of jealousy, the athlete having a romantic relationship with Dr. Jean-Michel Serra, former director of the medical service of the French Athletics Federation (FFA).
A source close to the file had called for "caution" on this version, citing the hypothesis that Alain Flaccus made the choice to "sacrifice" so that the daughter of Jacky Boxberger, ex-French specialist in long distance races , avoids a four-year suspension.
AFLD continues to conduct its investigations prior to any final sanction, as does the Paris prosecutor's office, which opened an investigation on October 14.
Dr. Serra was dismissed by the FFA on December 18. The doctor was first pinned in June for being worried to the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) of the number of controls undergone by Ophélie Claude-Boxberger, without informing his hierarchy. After having sanctioned him with a blame for his individual initiative, the FFA had however decided at first to renew his "confidence" in his doctor two months from the Doha Worlds.
© 2020 AFP