The Frenchman had been stripped of his duties as both vice-president and a member of the FIG Presidential Commission until the end of August next year, after a Disciplinary Commission ruled he had committed "supervisory negligence" at an Intercontinental Judges' Course he ran in Bucharest, Romania, in 2012.

But the FIG Appeal Tribunal, chaired by Sweden's Thore Brolin and its members George Stewart of Canada and Renata Loss Campana of Switzerland, has now decided to instead issue a warning "in respect of his failure to comply with the written directives of President [Bruno] Grandi at the Bucharest Course and for negligently failing to properly supervise the conduct of and marking of the examinations" at the course.

Léglise will now remain a member of the Presidential Commission and continue to exercise his functions as vice-president without being in charge of any given discipline.

He will also be paid back CHF2,500 (£1,790/$2,700/€2,400) of the CHF5,000 (£3,600/$5,400/€4,700) expenses he received during the course but reimbursed to the FIG following the initial sanction, with the other CHF2,500 (£1,790/$2,700/€2,400) being kept by the FIG.

Natalia Kuzmina called for an investigation, which led to action being taken against Michel Léglise ©RLM Finsbury


This decision, which can be appealed within 21 days to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, is the latest in a large catalogue of events in the row that dates back to early 2013 when "irregularities" were identified in the marks from the course.

Since then a significant number of senior gymnastics officials, including FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee President Natalia Kuzmina - who was later cleared, had been implicated in the case.

Indeed, the action against Léglise came following a request from Kuzmina, who - along with other officials - had originally been suspended until a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in April this last year upheld their appeal against what she called "false" allegations about "irregularities" at the course.

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