Section 7: Violations & Penalties
7.1 Fencing Violations
- Corps-à-corps (body contact): Penalty touch awarded to the opponent if the contact is deliberate. Accidental contact results in halt and restart.
- Covering target: Deliberately using the non-weapon hand to cover valid target area — penalty touch
- Turning back to opponent: Penalty touch. In épée, the entire body is target, but turning the back is still considered dangerous.
- Refusal to fight: If both athletes are passive and no touch is scored in the 1-minute bout, both are recorded as losers (double defeat)
- Equipment failure: If equipment fails during a bout, the athlete is given time to replace it. Repeated failures may result in the bout being awarded to the opponent.
7.2 Swimming Violations
- False start: One false start per athlete. Second false start = disqualification from that heat (applies World Aquatics rules).
- Stroke violation: Any stroke is permitted in freestyle, but touching the wall during turns must follow World Aquatics rules (one hand touch for backstroke, two-hand touch for breaststroke/butterfly if those strokes are used).
- Lane violation: Interfering with another swimmer by crossing lane lines = disqualification from the heat
- Unsportsmanlike conduct: Warning or disqualification from the swimming discipline
7.3 Laser Run Violations
- Shooting station: Athletes must stand behind the shooting line. Stepping over the line during a shooting series results in a warning. Repeated offense = 10-second time penalty.
- Pistol handling: The laser pistol may only be pointed at the target. Pointing the pistol in any other direction (even though it fires only a laser beam) results in a warning for unsafe handling.
- Time limit: Failure to hit all 5 targets within 50 seconds does not result in a penalty — the targets automatically extinguish and the athlete departs. The time lost while shooting is the inherent penalty.
- Interference: Deliberately obstructing, pushing, or impeding another athlete during running = yellow card (warning) or red card (time penalty).
- Course cutting: Leaving the marked running course to gain an advantage = disqualification
7.4 General Violations
- Unsportsmanlike conduct: Yellow card (first warning), red card (point/time penalty), black card (disqualification and removal from the competition)
- Anti-doping: WADA anti-doping rules apply. Positive tests result in disqualification of all results and potential suspension of 2–4 years.
- Failure to compete: An athlete who does not start or complete any one of the five disciplines is marked as DNF (Did Not Finish) for the overall competition and receives no ranking
- Late arrival: An athlete who arrives late for their scheduled discipline may be permitted to compete at the discretion of the Technical Delegate, but will receive no extra time or accommodation