French athlete Clémence Calvin, suspended for four years in 2019 for evading an anti-doping test, made her return to competition on Sunday by lining up for the 10 kilometers in Nice where she took fourth place.
Authorized to issue a bib since December 17, 2023, Clémence Calvin, European marathon vice-champion in 2018, completed the Prom’Classic in Nice in 32 minutes and 53 seconds (personal best in 31 min 20 in 2018) and took fourth place in this race won by Sarah Madeleine.
Clémence Calvin, 33, had not lined up for a race since the Paris marathon in April 2019. At the time, she had broken the French record by completing the 42.195 km in 2 h 23 min 41, a performance which was ultimately never approved since the athlete was subsequently suspended.
The Clémence Calvin affair began a few days before the marathon when the athlete was provisionally suspended by the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) for evading an unannounced test in Morocco where she was training with his companion and coach Samir Dahmani.
The affair took an incredible turn when Calvin, denying the accusations altogether, explained that one of the agents commissioned by the AFLD to control her had not presented himself as such and had attacked her in the street, his child even falling from his arms during the altercation.
Initially, the Council of State lifted the provisional suspension two days before the Paris marathon, allowing Clémence Calvin to run. But she was again provisionally suspended a few weeks later before receiving a definitive four-year suspension at the end of 2019.
At 33, she now has until April 30 to try to achieve the Olympic minimums in the marathon (2 hours 26 min 50). Four French women already meet the qualification criteria but the French team will only be able to field three at the Games.
