birth_place weight height sport birth_date image article_title name
strasbourg , france 65 kg 1.83 m middle-distance running 17 august 1978 mehdi baala.jpg mehdi baala
 mehdi baala
mehdi baala

mehdi baala -lrb- -rrb- -lrb- born 17 august 1978 in strasbourg -rrb- is a french , middle-distance runner competing mainly in the 1500 metres event .
baala has won several major international championships medals in the 1500 metres event - an olympic games bronze , a world championships silver , two european championships golds and a european indoor championships bronze .
moreover , he has won several medals in the 1500 metres event of the european cup , iaaf world cup and the iaaf world athletics final .
baala is considered to be the best french middle-distance runner of all time .
as of july 2013 , he holds french national outdoor records for four distances -lrb- 800m : 1.43.15 , 1000m : 2.13.96 , 1500m : 3.28.98 and 2000m : 4.53.12 ; all of these were set from 2002 to 2005 -rrb- and french national indoor records for four distances -lrb- 800m , 1000m , 1500m and the mile ; all of these were set from 2003 to 2009 -rrb- .
baala won the silver medal at the 2003 world championships in the 1500 metres event .
at the 2007 world championships in osaka in 2007 , he finished first in his 1500 metres semi-final heat but was disqualified for causing the fall of two other athletes .
baala finished fourth in the 1500 metres final at the 2000 olympics .
at the 2008 olympics , baala won the bronze medal for the 1500 metres event .
he had initially finished in fourth place in the final once again , but the initial winner rashid ramzi was stripped of his gold medal when he was found guilty of doping and hence baala was elevated to receive the bronze medal .
on 22 july 2011 , immediately after the 1500m race of the monaco meeting of the iaaf diamond league , baala and his fellow competitor and compatriot mahiedine mekhissi-benabbad traded blows on the track .
the french athletics federation handed baala and mekhissi-benabbad a suspension of 10 months each - 5 months suspended - from all european athletics and iaaf track meets .
both were each fined 1500 euros and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service .
baala and mekhissi-benabbad were nevertheless cleared to take part in the upcoming 2011 world championships
