Explainer: Athletics cautions and send-offs at Olympic Games

On a dramatic night on Monday, Faith Kipyegon finished second in the women's 5,000m final, was promptly disqualified for entangling with Ethiopian world record holder Gudaf Tsegay, but reinstated as the silver medal winner on appeal. 

Read the competitions’ appeals' judgment: “The Jury of Appeal has reviewed all available evidence and agreed there was significant contact between, and by, the two athletes. 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.

This means that Kipyegon cannot appeal another yellow card infringement and will in fact earn a red card, meaning disqualification. The Kenyan track star is in contention for gold in the women's 1,500m whose heats were held yesterday at the Stade de France, Paris.

Red and yellow cards are standard issues in athletics. In sprints, a false start earns one a red card which means an automatic disqualification.

A yellow indicates a personal warning in both track and field events that a second caution will translate to a disqualification (red card).

WA rules have abolished false start warnings except in combined events where a yellow/black card indicates a warning for false start.

According to the WA guidelines, examples of this can be an athlete holding up their hand or standing/sitting up, deliberate delays in response to the commands or moves or making noise after the athletes have settled into the “on your marks” or “set” position thus disturbing the concentration of fellow athletes. 

If athletes are recalled after a faulty start -- where no athlete is at fault -- the entire field is shown a green card. The starter will call the athletes back by firing the gun a second time, according to the WA Ethical Rule manual.