Doping: Ophélie Claude-Boxberger gets two more years of suspension

A heavy penalty.

The Council of State has suspended the athlete Ophélie Claude-Boxberger for four years, two years more than what the AFLD sanctions commission had decided, for having tested positive for EPO in September 2019 .

The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) had demanded an eight-year suspension and appealed to the Council of State against the decision of the Sanctions Commission, an independent body, to impose a two-year sanction on the against the sport.

This four-year sanction had been requested by the public rapporteur.

The latter had estimated at the hearing that the "special circumstances" raised by the athlete's defense did not allow the suspension to be reduced.

On the other hand, he did not retain the supposed offense of falsification.

Indeed, in addition to taking EPO, the AFLD demanded that the athlete also be sanctioned for having falsified elements of the doping control, in particular by influencing the testimony of his ex-trainer and ex-father-in-law. , Alain Flaccus.

The AFLD demanded an even heavier sanction

He was initially accused of having injected EPO into the athlete during a massage before going back on his confession.

The AFLD believed that this witness had been manipulated by the athlete, and had also lied about his geolocation in the days preceding his control.

The AFLD Sanctions Commission, an independent body, did not follow this path.

She had been sensitive to the arguments of the defense of Ophélie Claude-Boxberger.

In September 2021, Alain Flaccus, prosecuted by Ophélie Claude-Boxberger for "poisoning", had been acquitted by the court of Montbéliard (Doubs).

In November of the same year, the athlete resumed competition by winning the 10 kilometers of Colmar.