Athletics chiefs were forced into an embarrassing U-turn, reinstating an Algerian runner they had banned from the Olympics after he appeared not to try hard enough in his race.

Taoufik Makhloufi stepped off the track 150 metres into his 800m heat, something referees decided he did merely to preserve energy ahead of the 1500m final, for which he had qualified fastest.

The International Association of Athletics Federations decided his failure to finish was against the spirit of the Games and threw him out under rule 142.2, which states you can be expelled for a ‘failure to compete honestly with bona fide effort’.

Early bath: Makhloufi has been disqualified for failing to finish his 800m heat

The 24-year-old and his team maintained he had a knee injury and doctors later backed him up, forcing the IAAF to listen to Makhloufi’s appeal and overturn the ban.

Algeria’s chef de mission Mohamed Azzoug exclusively told Sportsmail that the IAAF were wrong to have thrown out Makhloufi, insisting the knee injury could be treated to allow him to compete in the 1500m final.

‘It’s not fair that they’ve expelled him,’ said Azzoug. ‘They took the decision without giving him the chance to explain himself. Nobody spoke to us. He has a knee injury. That’s why he stopped. He’s been having training since and now we’re waiting for the doctor

to tell us how bad the injury is and whether he can run or not. Everything depends on what the doctor says. We just hope it’s not a deep injury.’

The IAAF’s initial hardline stance came just five days after the Badminton World Federation expelled four women’s doubles pairs for deliberately trying to lose their matches to secure an easier run through the knockout rounds.

While this was different as the crowd still saw a race, they considered it enough of a betrayal of the spirit of the Games to ensure strong action.

Winner: The Algerian starred in his 1500m semi-final

‘The referee considered that he had not provided a bona fide effort and decided to exclude him from participation in all further events in the competition,’ read the IAAF statement.

Watching the race, it was easy to see why there was doubt. Makhloufi seemed surprisingly relaxed on the start line, laughing and smiling as he prepared to go into his blocks.

As soon as the gun sounded, he moved off slowly, jogging lightly behind the other competitors, including Britain’s Michael Rimmer.

But the Algerian, who had been touted as a medal contender in the 1500m after beating Olympic and world champion Asbel Kiprop in Sunday’s semi-final, stopped running and wandered across the grass in the middle of the stadium.