Paris (AFP)
The athlete Ophélie Claude-Boxberger, also at the heart of a doping case, won in court in Montbéliard (Doubs) the right to bear the name of his father, the former athletic star Jacky Boxberger, AFP learned on Monday.
In this civil procedure, the Montbéliard court rejected the request of Jacky's widow, Flora Boxberger, and their son Jérémy, to prevent Ophélie Claude-Boxberger from bearing the name of her illustrious father. The court also ordered Flora Boxberger to pay 10,000 euros in moral damages for the athlete and 1,500 euros in compensation for lawyers' fees, according to the judgment in first instance dated June 10 consulted by AFP.
"No usurpation of the name can be criticized," said the judgment.
Born from another relationship in 1988, the 3,000 m steeplechase specialist had been recognized by her father, former champion Jacky Boxberger, seven days after his birth, but had not grown up with him. Ophélie Claude, in the civil status, had added the use of her father's name after his death in 2001.
This right was contested by Flora Boxberger and her son Jérémy, who considered that the name had been added for commercial purposes and that Ophélie's attitude had harmed the sporting career of Jérémy, a former good level athlete in the categories young and in the same club as his half-sister.
"It puts an end to the relentlessness suffered for years, since the death of my father," reacted Ophélie Claude-Boxberger to AFP.
The athlete is also at the heart of an incredible doping case. After a positive test at the athlete's EPO in September 2018, his stepfather Alain Flaccus accused himself for several months of having doped her without knowing it out of jealousy before suddenly turning around last week.
Ophélie Claude-Boxberger, who claims his innocence and dreams of the Tokyo Games in 2021, awaits his convocation by the sanctions commission of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) and risks four years of suspension.
© 2020 AFP