Paris (AFP)
The Council of State announced Wednesday the rejection of an appeal by the French specialist of the 3000 m steeplechase, Ophélie Claude-Boxberger, against his provisional suspension after a positive control at the EPO, in September 2019.
This rejection was advocated on May 28 by the public rapporteur.
The Council of State had already postponed in January a first appeal filed for interim measures.
Tested positive at EPO on September 18, Ophélie Claude-Boxberger (31) is temporarily suspended by the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) and is at the heart of an incredible case.
During a spectacular twist at the end of November, the man who assisted him in his preparation, Alain Flaccus, also his mother's companion, accused himself in police custody of having inoculated him with a dose of EPO without his knowledge, while 'she had dozed off on September 12 during an altitude training course at Font-Romeu. Two weeks later, the French had participated in the Doha Worlds, without shining.
At the heart of a tormented family history, Claude-Boxberger had then explained that he had denounced years before, without filing a complaint, facts of sexual assault against Alain Flaccus, then coach in his club which became the Montbéliard Belfort Athletics (MBA). After her confession, this time she filed a poisoning complaint.
According to his own version, Flaccus would have acted out of jealousy towards the doctor of the team of France Jean-Claude Serra, with whom the half-cross-country girl maintains a sentimental relation. He hoped that the athlete's woes would spill over to the doctor, since fired by the federation.
From now on, the Frenchwoman, who claims her innocence, is waiting to be summoned before the sanctions committee of the AFLD, where she faces up to four years of suspension, unless she shows that she has committed no fault or negligence.
At the same time, the Paris public prosecutor's office opened legal information at the end of November, in particular for trafficking in doping products, entrusted to the investigating judges of the public health department of the Paris judicial court.
© 2020 AFP