Kenyan star Faith Kipyegon has been handed a disciplinary punishment by the IOC – despite having her silver medal reinstated after the women’s 5000m Olympic final.
The 31-year-old was disqualified from the final in Paris after it was deemed she had ‘obstructed’ Ethiopian rival Gudaf Tsegay on the penultimate lap of the race.
The disqualification was successfully appealed against by Athletics Kenya officials, and Kipyegon was able to receive her silver medal.
Eurosport commentator Mark Hutchings described the initial disqualification as ‘dreadful’, while winner Beatrice Chebet said the incident was not Kipyegon’s fault.
In a statement after their athlete was reinstated, Athletics Kenya wrote: “Congratulations to Faith Kipyegon, her silver medal has been reinstated.
“Kenya’s team officials led by Milka Chemos, Bernard Ouma and Team Manager Peter Angwenyi successfully appealed and won her case.”
Despite her disqualification being annulled, however, Kipyegon did still receive a punishment of sorts following her appeal.
The 31-year-old has been given a disciplinary yellow card which she must carry with her for the rest of the tournament.
The yellow card is often used in track events, and serves as a formal warning to athletes.
Therefore, should a second yellow card be received by Kipyegon in a future event at Paris 2024, she will be shown a red card and disqualified from the event.
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The Jury of Appeal’s final verdict on the incident reads: “The Jury of Appeal has reviewed all available evidence and agreed there was significant contact between the two athletes [Kipyegon and Tsegay].
“The Jury concluded that the incident did not warrant a disqualification.
“The Jury wishes to make clear that jostling of this nature is never acceptable and therefore recommends that Faith Kipyegon receives a disciplinary yellow card which would carry throughout the remainder of the Games.”
Meanwhile, Kipyegon has now spoken out for the first time since she was reinstated to the race.
She told Kenyan media: “To be honest, I feel tired after last night, but I am feeling good.
“This is a different race and my traditional race. My focus is fully on making Kenyans proud.
“I have no comment on yesterday as it was hard. This is sport and I am faith, I’ve always participated fairly and all in all, I am now focused on 1500m. I have to keep going, it will be beautiful.”
