Just how far parents might go to help their children reach the sporting elite -- where fame and fortune await -- has become shockingly evident in France after a man was taken into custody for allegedly drugging his son's tennis rivals.
Christophe Fauviau, 43, a retired soldier from Tercis-les-Bains in southwest France, was arrested last Saturday and placed under judicial investigation for unintentionally causing a death by administering toxic substances.
Fauviau is suspected of giving the anti-anxiety drug Temesta, which can cause drowsiness, to several opponents of his 16-year-old son Maxime, a competitive player. One opponent died, and another wound up hospitalized for two days. Police are trying to determine whether there were other victims.
Fauviau was being held in Mont-de-Marsan prison pending a judicial inquiry, Captain Christian Flagella of Dax, an investigator in the case, said Thursday.
The story began to unfold at a minor tennis tournament on June 28, when a tennis player allegedly saw Christophe Fauviau tampering with his water bottle just before the player was to face Maxime Fauviau in a semifinal match. The player later turned the bottle over to police, and it tested positive for Temesta.
The next day, Maxime defeated another player in the tournament's final match. The player fell ill shortly after the match and required a two-day hospital stay, Flagella said.
In another tournament on July 3, Maxime defeated 25-year-old Alexandre Lagardere, a local primary school teacher. Lagardere complained of fatigue after the match and went to sleep at the home of a friend who lived near the stadium. He slept for two hours, then drove home, crashed his car and died.
Police believe he fell asleep at the wheel of his vehicle, and toxicology tests later showed traces of Temesta in Lagardere's system that authorities believe was administered by Fauviau.
Fauviau's alleged actions have stunned the town of Dax, situated about 50km from the coastal resort of Biarritz. The shock is particularly deep since Maxime was not considered championship material.
"It is unparalleled, scandalous," Thierry Pham, a member of the French Tennis Federation technical committee said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
"He [Maxime] was not part of the tennis elite for his age, which makes it even more bizarre," Pham said. "He was just a good, local player."
In fact, it is Fauviau's 13-year-old daughter Valentine who is considered the family's great tennis hope.
"She is one of the best players in the country in her age group," Pham said. "For her it is very sad, because she will have to suffer pressure in her career because of what her father did."
Fauviau is not accused of drugging any of his daughter's opponents, but he recently clashed with the FFT over what was best for her career development, Pham said.
"He became known to us because of his daughter," Pham said. "He refused to let her join a tennis school in Toulouse and refused to allow her to play for the junior national team this summer."
Calls to the Fauviau home on Wednesday and Thursday went unanswered.
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