(Albi, FRA) - The two French athletes who traded blows at the end of a 1500m race in Monaco last week will learn their fate on August 4, according to Bernard Amsalem, the president of the French Athletics Federation (FFA).
Mehdi Baala, world silver medallist in 2003 and bronze medallist in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, clashed with Mahiedine Mekhissi Benabbad, the 3000m steeplechase Olympic silver medallist, after the end of last Friday's Diamond League race.
They were suspended pending a decision by the FFA disciplinary committee, ruling them out of the national championships taking place here.
The disciplinary meeting was orginally slated for this week but Amsalem has now pushed this back until next Thursday.
If the committee takes a dim view of the altercation there is a chance that both men could be barred from competing at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea next month.
Amsalem, however, played down the incident and insisted that the status of French athletics had not been "tarnished" by it.
"It doesn't always end in a brawl in the stadium but sometimes it ends with awkward moments that are not in front of cameras," said Amsalem. "This type of incident is very rare.
"And that is why this incident in Monaco has not really tarnished the image of athletics."
Both athletes have apologised for their parts in the fight which has become a popular hit on the video-sharing site YouTube.
