THE DISQUALIFIED FRENCH athlete Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad, stripped of his European Championship gold medal in the 3,000m steeplechase for whipping off his vest before the end of the race, on Friday denied he acted arrogantly.
Mekhissi-Benabbad, 29, who was on course for his third successive European title before his disqualification, also dismissed criticism that his action showed disrespect to his fellow-competitors.
“There was no arrogance,” the Frenchman wrote on his Facebook page. “Sorry, I was only thinking of celebrating my victory like a footballer. There was no arrogance towards my fellow-runners or the crowd.”
The two-time World Championship bronze medallist initially received a yellow card warning but a protest lodged by the Spanish team was upheld, prompting an unsuccessful counter-protest by the French.
Yoann Kowal, Mekhissi-Benabbad’s French team-mate, was upgraded from silver to gold, with Krystian Zalewski of Poland promoted to second and Spain’s Angel Mullera to third.
French athletics federation president Bernard Amsalem, described Mekhissi-Benabbad’s action as “unacceptable”, but criticised the way the matter was handled.
“The action was unacceptable, you don’t take off your vest during a race, it isn’t done,” he said.
“At the same time, he took off his vest and it didn’t hurt anyone. He’s impulsive. But it should have stopped there. Unfortunately, the Spanish lodged a protest. I would never have lodged a protest, the Spanish acted badly.”
Mekhissi-Benabbad has a reputation as the bad boy of track and field, having pushed mascots after winning the European steeplechase final in Barcelona in 2010 and in Helsinki in 2012.
He was also given a suspended sentence by the French federation, fined 1,500 euros and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service after getting into a fist fight with fellow Frenchman Mehdi Baala after a Diamond League 1,500m race in Monaco in 2011.
Mekhissi-Benabbad was due back on the track in Zurich on Friday in the heats of the 1,500m.
His running ability and athletic superiority won him the race..Yeah he was a stupid to take his top off but he’s not Lance Armstrong ffs,he wasn’t caught doping..Extreme to say the least taking his Gold off him..
An arrogant Frenchman? Never..
What harm has he done? Trained for god knows how long and was about to win gold. I despair.
Fine him or something but he still won the race.
The other lads must be embarrassed accepting an upgrading medal knowing they were well beaten (Spainish lad getting bronze when he comes 4th, etc)
It was Spain who appealed, don’t know if it had anything to do with the athlete himself
God forbid a distance runner shows a bit of panache, it’s characters like this that the sport has been crying out for!
He broke the rules. Might be technical, yes, but these weren’t secret rules. Arrogance is going to cost you. The waste of all that training and dedications is for him to mull over – not the officials.
What an absolute moron!
the punishment far outweighs the crime here and if the second third and fourth boys had an ounce of class they would do an unofficial second presentation and give him the medal he won fair and square back. when we were small lads we used to run in the school sports without tops on (twas always roasting) and all that mattered was who was fastest (oh and the taking part of course)
But that punishment is what is set down for that rule violation. He would have surely known that. And the rule about not removing the top and keeping the race number on display goes down to the lowest levels of the sport – I have done small 5 or 10k runs in Dublin and they have announced that rule at the start.
The panel on the telly says if anything controversial had happened he would surely be involved and they didnt seem to be all that suprised aswell,the lads on the bbc were of the same mindset.Iv been watching pro racing and amateur racing all over ireland all my life and have never seen stupidity like that.pretty harsh thing to do but what a fool like.You see jockeys being fined if they be showboating winning a race before they they get to the line,this is pretty similar.I hate arrogant people that belittle others and aswell this stuff never ever happens so i wouldnt have much sympathy for him
Why wasn’t he fined like what would happen in nearly every other sport if the athlete was deemed to have acted in an unsporting manner but to take away his medal is a disgrace.
Id be very confident he will be getting a fine.Like he has a history so they are giving him less leniency.shur in the horses for the easiest of offences you are brought in front of a tribunal to be suspended.Like they’re all strict like in their own ways.Im convinced anyway coz he has a history this is hurting his cause bigtime.I wouldnt call it a disgrace(for himself individually considering his history) id call it far fetched
Shur, like, you might be right like
He has previous when it comes to his ‘celebrating’ victories, pushing mascots and punching his team mate. If this is how he wins I would not like to see him lose. No humility whatsoever
HIs footballer comparison doesn’t stand up. They take their shirts off after they score a goal. He’d 100m left to run. Disgusting and unsportsmanlike
Just like Eamonn Coughlan shaking his fist at the Russian as he passed him on the final bend !!
He shook it to the crowd. But yes, it wasn’t great sportsmanship either. What benabbad did was a bit more controversial to be fair.
He turned, looked him in the face & shook his fist – arrogant git
http://youtu.be/xKEKbJjtT4M
He’s a fool. Can’t keep behaving like a child and expect to get rewarded
Check out Coughlan when he won gold – just as arrogant !
Did you view the clip?
Watched it live – so haven’t forgotten!
It’s like the Celtic v Leigh whole affair,happens in sports everywhere this poor guy was on his way for a 3rd gold and was “miles” ahead
If Ireland had won the World Cup in soocer ( fat chance of that ever happening) and they all took their tops off out ( rightly so) would you be crying give the cup back. I don’t call this arrigrant… You can do the feck you like as far as I’m concerned.. Hell with the other team.
These damn organizations know how to kill the joy of winning. Give him his tootle back fools . It’s about who crosses the finish line first. Idiots