The athlete Ophélie Claude-Boxberger, also at the heart of a doping case, won before the court in Montbéliard (Doubs) the right to bear the name of his father, the former athletics star Jacky Boxberger.
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 attorney’s fees, according to the first-instance judgment dated June 10, consulted by AFP.
“No usurpation of the name can be criticized,” said the judgment. Born from another relationship in 1988, the 3000m 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 her death in 2001. This right was disputed by Flora Boxberger and her son Jérémy, who considered that the name had been added for purposes and that Ophélie’s attitude had damaged Jérémy’s sporting career, a former good level athlete in the youth categories and in the same club as his half-sister.
“Fierce”
“This 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 check at the athlete’s EPO in September 2018, her father-in-law Alain Flaccus accused himself for several months of unknowingly doping her out of jealousy before abruptly turning around last week. Ophélie Claude-Boxberger, who claims her innocence and dreams of the Tokyo Games in 2021, is awaiting her summons by the sanctions commission of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) and risks a four-year suspension.
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