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I didn't find this refutation especially convincing, and the way it is presented makes it seem ideologically motivated. The underlying argument in that article

I didn't find this refutation especially convincing, and the way it is presented makes it seem ideologically motivated. The underlying argument in that article is that the people around Calment would have known that Yvonne is not Jeanne, and therefore they would have been caught. An alternative explanation is that the people around Calment knew nothing of her claiming to be Jeanne at all until much later on in her life. By which time the only people who knew about the fraudulent claim would be either very old themselves, or sympathetic to the situation an old and dear friend or family member has found themselves in. The only way to know for sure would be DNA testing.

tsimionescu 5y ago
> An alternative explanation is that the people around Calment knew nothing of her claiming to be Jeanne at all until much later on in her life. By which time the only people who knew about the fraudulent claim would be either very old themselves, or sympathetic to the situation an old and dear friend or family member has found themselves in. This doesn't make sense - there is witness testimony and other records attesting that Yvonne, the daughter, died. Her husband sought leave from the military to be by her side.