Triple-jumper’s ban for fight with female

Triple jumper Teddy Tamgho was banned from competition for six months yesterday by France’s athletics federation because of a training camp fight with a female athlete.

Federation spokesman Adrian Verdugo said the indoor world record-holder will be allowed to compete again from 19 May, clearing the way for him to be involved in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The federation also added another six months to his ban, but that was suspended.

Tamgho was also fined e1,500 and must complete 50 hours of community service.

Verdugo said Tamgho already has fulfilled the minimum qualification standards for the 2012 Olympics, meaning he remains a potential candidate to represent France at the games. But the federation will make the final decision on whether to actually select him.

Verdugo said Tamgho had a fight with a female athlete in October. The dispute appeared to concern something in their private lives, he said.

He said it wasn’t clear if Tamgho actually punched the woman. “It is quite hazy,” he said. The disciplinary commission “wasn’t able to determine the exact circumstances.” Verdugo said he didn’t know the identity of the woman.

Tamgho said he accepted the penalty, Verdugo said, adding that the jumper is not expected to exercise his right to appeal.

Meanwhile, UK Athletics have pulled Eilish McColgan out of the squad to take part in warm-weather training in Kenya next month, and instead have asked her to continue her rehabilitation from injury in London.

The 21-year-old Dundee Hawkhill athlete has been out of competitive action since August, when she broke her foot in the London Grand Prix 3,000-metres steeplechase – a race in which she still managed to set a Scottish record despite sustaining the injury 500m from the finishing line. She is back running again, but UK Athletics have decided she would be better off continuing her recovery in this country.

While her fellow distance runners will be in Kenya, she will attend a rehab clinic in London, then train for a fortnight at Loughborough before another visit to London. The recovery programme is designed to get her fully fit by the start of next season, when her initial goal is to be included in the Great Britain team for the London Olympics.

“Eilish won’t travel to Kenya with the UK Athletics squad but will be in London instead for specialised training as she works on her rehab,” Liz McColgan, her coach and mother, told scottishathletics.org.uk.

“She has been back running over the past couple of weeks and has made a lot of progress. Everything she is now doing is with next summer in mind.”

As well as setting a new personal best at the London Grand Prix steeplechase, McColgan won a silver medal over 5,000m at the Aviva UK Trials and World Championships.

A maths and accountancy student at Dundee University, she has been doing much of her rehab at the LifeFit Physio centre in Grangemouth, where she has been working with David Bowmaker. She was named last week in the Scottish Athletics Commonwealth Games squad and is also part of the UK Athletics development programme.