Steeplechase winner disqualified for shirtless celebration

PHUKET: Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad was stripped of the 3,000-meter steeplechase gold medal after performing a shirtless celebration down the final straight at the European Athletics championships on Thursday.

The Frenchman, well clear of the rest of the field, pulled off his vest as he came around the final bend, put it in his mouth as he waved to the crowd.

He then held it in his hand as he sprinted down the final straight for what appeared to be his third successive European gold in the event.

He initially received a yellow card from a track official for “acting in an unsporting or improper manner” before he started his lap of honour.

But he was later disqualified after Spain, whose athletes finished fourth and fifth, made an official protest citing rules on “clothing, shoes and bibs”, organisers said.

Mekhissi-Benabbad’s compatriot Yoann Kowal, who had moved from fourth to second in the final 200 meters, took gold instead, ahead of Krystian Zalewski (Poland) and Spain’s Angel Mullera.

“When I took off my vest on the last meters, it was because of my joy, of course,” Mekhissi-Benabbad told the championship’s official website before the disqualification was announced. “It was the pleasure of winning. I was so happy to defend my title.

“The main thing was to win. I did not know that I was going to get a yellow card for that.”

“But this yellow card, this is nothing. It was just the emotion. Today I will enjoy my victory and we have to see how this evening will finish.”

Kowal said: “What Mahiedine did with his vest was not disturbing or anything, nothing important.”

Mekhissi-Benabbad has been involved in controversy in the past and was once suspended along with team mate Mehdi Baala after they traded blows following the 1,500 meters at a Diamond League meeting in Monaco.

At one point Baala head-butted Mekhissi who responded by swinging his arms wildly as he threw a series of punches, some of which missed their intended target.

— Reuters