Manaudou look-alike in photo confusion

A look-alike of former Olympic swimming champion Laure Manaudou appeared on the front page of L'Equipe this week with the woman in question claiming Friday it had been an invasion of privacy.

Manaudou, the 2004 400m freestyle Olympic champion, on Wednesday announced she would not be competing in 2009 and a front page photo of this other woman was published by the French sports daily the following day.

The paper on Friday said on its front page that Manaudou had contacted them to say it wasn't her in the photo. They said if that were the case then they were sorry.

The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous but called herself "Claire", faced the media on Friday in company with her lawyer.

"Apparently, I am the spitting image of Laure Manaudou and I am deeply shocked. The publication of this photo is an invasion of my private life and I learned about the photo from my best friend," she told journalists.

"The problem is that there is now information about me on the internet and I have learned that I have been followed or risk being followed for several months.

"This might have been funny at the start but this has become more serious. I contacted Laure Manaudou, but I don't want to reveal what she said and I don't know when the photo was taken."