In October the planet of the NBA ended up in a scandal for a illegal betting and gambling ringwhich involved around thirty people, including Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier, who ended up in prison. A few years earlier, however, a similar situation had exploded in the world of football with players disqualified, including the international Sandro Tonali and the current Fiorentina midfielder Nicolò Fagioli.
The world of sport occasionally falls into this terrible vice and usually concerns team disciplines: football, basketball (but also tennis!)… Here’s why the alleged six-month disqualification of a middle-distance runner is almost more newsworthy. Yet it all seems true, according to the website spe15.fr.
Middle distance runner disqualified for illegal betting
It would seem that a French Olympic athlete Aurore Fleury should be suspended for six months. The sanction against the 32-year-old middle-distance runner would have been taken by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) which would have assessed her behavior as not compliant with the required ethical standards. Fleury would be accused of having bet online on the victory in the 3,000 steeplechase at the 2024 European Championships in Rome of her transalpine colleague Alice Finot. A disqualification which should therefore expire at the end of March 2026, this would mean that the athlete has already been affected by the provision for three months and everything would have been kept secret.
If everything were confirmed, it would represent the first time in France that an athlete has suffered a disqualification for issues not related to doping, but rather for violation of ethical rules. The fact that the news was not made public would be because theThe Athletics Integrity Unit tends not to make its decisions spectacular, unlike when it comes to dopingwhere communication takes place directly on the same AIU account
Aurore Fleury would have violated the rule that prohibits betting on one’s sport
Although the story has been leaked, the issue still remains without official comments and the precise reasons for this suspension have never been made known, even if they now seem to be established. As far as is known Aurore Fleury would have violated rule number 4, which prohibits betting on one’s sport. The last time the French athlete took to the track dates back to 20 August 2025 at the Pfungstadt meeting in Germany, in the 1,500 metres. In November she was registered for the very fast 5km in Lille but officially withdrew for reasons linked to an elusive (now we can say so) back pain. Since then his social networks have gone silent, with the exception of early January when a tribute to Roland Simonnet, his deceased former coach, was published.
And speaking of illegal betting in the world of French sport, the football federation recently announced the suspension of 35 members, including professional footballers and coaches, guilty of violating the rule that prohibits betting in the sport played, which instead occurred in the 2024/25 season.
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