A glorious contested heritage, a torn family, a difficult youth that could turn sordid: the incredible doping case of Ophélie Claude-Boxberger adds a new episode to the insane itinerary of the athlete, mixing suffering and mystery.
Box-ber-ger. Three cracking syllables. To pronounce with the “r” which lingers slightly like in Montbéliard (Doubs) in Franche-Comté. In the athletics stadium, an imposing block of gray-red concrete houses offices and a plaque that honors the local hero: Jacky Boxberger, glory of athletics of the last century and father of Ophélie Claude-Boxberger. “It has aged badly,” notes the 31-year-old athlete in a primed leather jacket who swapped the tips for high heels on this cloudy June morning.
After a first marriage and two children, David and Katia, Jacky maintains a relationship with Sylvie Claude, who settles at his place. The beautiful kid with curly brown hair also met in 1982 Flora Carillon, an athlete from his club, 16 years younger than him, with whom he settled down and married in 1992. From this union was born Jérémy in 1987. Sylvie Claude gave birth to Ophélie in 1988. The 3,000 m steeplechase specialist grew up without her father, who recognized her, however. She adds her name after her tragic death in 2001, when Jacky is killed by an elephant in Kenya, just 52 years old. The episode opens a yawning fracture in the family.
“This person was never part of our family”
Ophélie says she regularly rubbed Jacky. A lie, says Flora Boxberger. Word against word. The little gymnast and rider joins Jérémy at athletics in Sochaux. The two do not mix but they are fast, powerful. Jérémy, lookalike of his father at the same age, is selected in the France young team and signs a solid time over 800 m in 2009 (1: 48.64). Flora Boxberger ensures that Ophélie is then favored by the club and her rejected, forgotten, unjustly replaced son. She challenges the name of Boxberger in Ophélie, a procedure which is soon coming to an end. “She stole our identity. Me and my son no longer existed, she explains toAFP. There is divine justice, when one has hurt, one day or another one pays it ”, she asserts about the current doping case.
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“Flora, out of jealousy, does not accept that I am there”, retorts Ophélie. “This person has never been part of our family,” says Jérémy, now an engineer, exiled in the Pyrenees, far from family resentment. Notable Boxberger level, it was better than Claude, to have sponsors. As soon as we pronounce our name, it is with it that we make the connection, it annoys me. ” “Ophélie is really a Boxberger”, replies her uncle George, says “Jojo”, angry with Flora. Ophélie runs in memory of my brother, it brings her closer to him in a way. She has our blood. “
Doping control, sexual assault …
Ophélie’s trajectory was interrupted in September 2019 by a doping control, the starting point for an incredible affair. With the gendarmes, the man who accompanied him during this internship at Font-Romeu (Pyrénées-Orientales) accuses himself of having inoculated him with EPO without his knowledge. He turned around seven months later. Now 72, Alain Flaccus is a key figure in Ophélie’s life. He rubbed shoulders with Jacky in Sochaux. He has been Ophélie’s mother’s companion for several years. He was his first coach. He fell in admiration. She accused him of sexual assault when she was a minor. “He had inappropriate gestures, he slept naked with me, showed me pornographic films in competition,” she says. It was a period when I was ill, withdrawn. I couldn’t talk about it. ”
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“It destroyed my life (…) I was on antidepressants. I ended up reintegrating him with me to reconnect with the family. ” Ophélie threatens to file a complaint for rape or sexual assault, says other girls. Alain Flaccus denies everything. A procedure had already been opened in 2009, closed without follow-up in 2011. Word against word. In 2009, Mr. Flaccus had been suspended six months by the disciplinary commission of the French Athletics Federation (FFA), for “deviant behavior, contrary to morality” on the basis of an email and “touching “
Emotionally sensitive
According to its first version, Alain Flaccus said he had injected EPO out of jealousy over Ophélie’s new companion, the ex-doctor of the Federation, Jean-Michel Serra. Before denying the facts, to theAFP. “I have the feeling that there was a pawn to be sacrificed and that is him,” says his lawyer, Jean-Baptiste Euvrard. Investigators have been exploring this “sacrifice” hypothesis from the start. Secretary general of the athletics club, Alain Flaccus was also president of the American football club. “He has an extreme relationship with sport, it looks like he could die for that,” recalls Maxime Boulet, former player of the “Princes” who evokes a “good president”. “He is so in awe of Ophélie, yes I have the impression that he can lie to protect her. And it amazes me that he was able to inject EPO when he praised values all the time … “
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Rest Ophélie. Five times champion of France, the substitute teacher of EPS does not count an international medal. The piano, better studies, her free time, she claims to have sacrificed everything for the race. “I could not bear that there was a sanction. My life would be destroyed. ” She says she has already played with fire, between alcohol and drugs. “She is emotionally sensitive, she can start from the wrong side if it turns sour,” says European champion of the 3000 m steeplechase, Yoann Kowal. “During an internship at Insep, one year, she had stopped eating in the evening because she had seen a foreign athlete do it. Ophélie is all in the extreme. ” A source close to the doping dossier feels confused in front of the character, hesitating between a manipulator or a cursed girl, with infinite misfortunes. “I wonder when it’s going to stop,” sighs Ophélie.
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