French triple jumper Teddy Tamgho has been banned for 12 months, six of which have been suspended, after an altercation with a female athlete.
Tamgho, who is the world indoor record holder at 17.92m, was involved in an incident at a training camp in October.
The 22-year-old, who has been banned until 18 May, will miss March's World Indoor Championships but he will be available for the London 2012 Olympics.
A spokesman said: "He expressed his regrets and acknowledges the verdict."
Tamgho, who now trains in Florida with former Olympic long jump champion Ivan Pedroso, broke his ankle in July and missed this year's world championships in Daegu, South Korea.
He won gold at the 2010 World Indoor Championships with a new world record of 17.90m but was beaten into third place by Britain's Phillips Idowu at the European Outdoor Championships in Barcelona later that year.
He started 2011 strongly by improving his world indoor record by a centimetre to win at the French Indoor Championships.
He increased his record one centimetre further at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships, clearing 17.92m on two occasions, to take the gold medal in front of his home crowd in Paris but the ankle injury brought an early end to his season.
The ban means he will be unable to defend his world title at the event in Istanbul from 9 -11 March 2012.