Marathon runner Calvin’s suspension lifted by French court

PARIS (AP) — European marathon silver medalist Clemence Calvin will be allowed to run the Paris marathon after a French administrative court lifted her provisional ban.

Calvin was provisionally suspended by the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) on Wednesday for allegedly obstructing a doping test last month in Morocco.

But France’s highest administrative court, the Council of State, issued an emergency ruling late Friday stipulating that Calvin was not given the chance to properly defend herself by the AFLD. According to court documents, the AFLD will also have to pay Calvin 3,000 euros.

The Paris marathon takes place on Sunday.

Calvin denies any wrongdoing and claims she was brutalized by testers who pretended to be police officers when she was briefly stopped in the city of Marrakech on March 27. The French anti-doping agency’s secretary general denied Calvin’s allegations that the agents were violent and did not identify themselves as sample collectors.

Calvin, who did not get tested after the altercation, has filed a lawsuit in Morocco against the testers for violence and threats.

According to Le Monde newspaper, Calvin is also the target of a police investigation in the southern city of Marseille for “infringement to the legislation on doping products.”

The 28-year-old athlete finished second in the marathon at the 2018 European championships in Berlin,