Three members of Gaul's sprint free force, Fred Bousquet, Fabien Gilot and William Meynard, and backstroke ace Camille Lacourt, have been handed warnings by the French federation for having jumped national-team camp to enjoy two nights of celebrations, along with Amaury Leveaux and Benjamin Stasiulis. One of the merry band celebrating the birth of Fred and Laure Manaudou's daughter Manon missed morning training.

The first four above faced a disciplinary panel of Francis Luyce, President of French swimming, federation director Louis-Frédéric Doyer, performance head Christian Donzé, and France team manager Lionel Horter, one of the circle of top coaches who coordinate the national programme in Gaul. Leveaux and Stasiulis will face their hearing on the eve of the Paris Open in late June.

The panel decided not to penalise the Paris Open and damage its billboards and relationships with sponsors and media: the troop of revelers, who attended the Marseille hearing with their coaches and club managers, will be free to race at the big pre-championship meet of the European summer.

The hearing lasted "two long hours", L'Equipe's Benoit Lallement reports today. It concluded with the four swimmers being delivered a stark message: a repeat would result in serious penalty. Luyce told L'Equipe that the meeting was cordial and productive, adding that the swimmers spoke a lot but their arguments and explanations were "not convincing". High jinks are high jinks, however you cover the canvas... In short, they broke team rules. A final decision on what penalities might be faced will be made at a meeting on June 25 the day after Leveaux and Stasiulis have been granted the opportunity of giving their version of events. 

L'Equipe notes the good and bad of the decision: on the one hand the swimmers will race in Paris (and few, if any, would not wish to see them in action), while on the other the authority of the team and federation would be undermined if a smack on the wrist is all you get for breaking team rules.