The procedures continue to be linked for Ophélie Claude-Boxberger, tested positive at EPO on September 18, 2019. Suspended provisionally since November 4 by the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), the athlete had been dismissed early January his request for cancellation filed before the judge of summary proceedings of the Council of State.
This Monday, January 27, the 31-year-old athlete was heard by a panel of experts from five members of the AFLD. She was accompanied by her lawyer, Me Laurent Clauzon. Earlier in the day, Doctor Jean-Michel Serra, former doctor of the French athletics teams and his companion, had also been heard, as had his mother and stepfather Alain Flaccus.
"At the moment, I have double trouble"
In this incredible case mixing jealousy, machination and family secrets, the latter had admitted having injected her with EPO during a massage, while she fell asleep during an internship at Font-Romeu (Pyrénées-Orientales) September 13. It is this version that Ophélie Claude-Boxberger again defended during his hearing, repeating that he was doped without his knowledge by Alain Flaccus.
"I have given everything they want to know, I have nothing to hide," she said. It is as if I was sanctioned, because the months pass and I cannot train serenely. At the moment, I have double trouble. I am being tried by the people's court and all my sponsors have left pending the decision. "
The panel of experts will very quickly now have to determine what action it intends to take on this procedure. If he decides to refer the 3000 steeplechase specialist from the Montbéliard-Belfort club to the AFLD sanctions committee, she will then risk a 4-year suspension.