SAINT-DENIS, France -- American sprinter Jon Drummond could be kicked out of the rest of the World Championships for his lie-down protest.

Track and field's world governing body ordered USA Track & Field on Monday to take disciplinary action against Drummond by Tuesday night.

The International Association of Athletics Federations suggested that Drummond should be barred from running in the 400-meter relay this weekend.

The IAAF's advisory board found that Drummond's behavior was "improper and unsporting and has brought the sport of athletics into disrepute."

Any athlete found guilty of such misconduct "shall not take part in competitions," according to the IAAF rule book.

Drummond refused to leave the track after being disqualified from Sunday's quarterfinal heat for a false start. He lay on his back on the track, argued with officials and gestured to the crowd in an angry, tearful tirade which threw the schedule into chaos for nearly an hour.

"There must be some disciplinary action," IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai told The Associated Press. "This is unsportsmanlike and damaging behavior and should not happen again."

If the IAAF is not satisfied with the USATF's decision on disciplinary action, the world body can take its own sanctions against Drummond, including suspending him from the rest of the championships, Gyulai said.

"If we believe what he did is so significant, we can immediately exclude him from any other event," Gyulai said.

USATF spokeswoman Jill Geer said the federation would study its bylaws to determine "the proper disciplinary procedure under an expedited circumstance."

Before the IAAF announced its decision, USATF chief executive Craig Masback said not all the facts were known about the incident.

"I think more information will come out," he told the AP. "It's in everybody's interests that the dust settles."

Gyulai said the IAAF also wants USATF to take action against Michael Cain, the U.S. national teams manager, who jumped out of the stands, ran up to Drummond and spoke to him briefly at the side of the track.

IAAF Council member Jose Maria Odriozola, president of the Spanish federation, sharply criticized Drummond and his California-based HSI team.

"There's a small group of athletes in California who think anything goes and that they can do whatever they like," Odriozola said. "We cannot put up with this. I have proposed to the council that Drummond be excluded from the World Championships and I think there's a good chance that will happen."

The turmoil was the result of a new IAAF rule on false starts, which disqualifies a person who commits the second false start in a race, regardless of who commits the first.

Drummond said he flinched in the blocks but did not jump the gun.

"I didn't understand the rule to mean that a flinch is a false start," he said. "I protested because this is my livelihood. At this point in my career, for me to lose an opportunity to pursue a dream, it crushes me. I walked away from what I had worked for the whole year."

Drummond, 34, is part of the U.S. sprint relay pool. Relay preliminaries are Saturday, with the finals Sunday.

Drummond won two World Championship relay gold medals at the 1993 and 1995 meets and ran the first leg on the U.S. team which won the gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He ran the opening leg on the team which equaled the world record of 37.40 seconds at the 1993 championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

The USATF opposed the introduction of the new false-start rule when it was approved by the IAAF in 2001. The rule went into effect this year.

The current rule allows for the possibility of a runner competing under protest after a disqualification. But the ultimate decision is up to race officials.

"The referee can at his own discretion decide whether or not to allow him to run under protest," Gyulai said. "In my personal opinion that probably would have been better. But it was his own decision."

Starting Jan. 1, the rule will change and no runner will be allowed to compete under a protest, he said.

Among those critical of Drummond's conduct was Michael Johnson, the retired multiple Olympic and world champion and world record-holder in the 200 and 400 meters.

"The IAAF should be stricter in applying its new rule on false starts," he said in his column in the French sports daily L'Equipe. "As an American, I was embarrassed by Drummond's behavior."