Discipline is synonymous with all sports these days, so Authorities always take a good look at behaviour. It may have seemed like a good idea at the time but Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad's bizarre celebration in the home straight of the men's 3,000m steeeplechase at the European championships has cost him dear.
Approaching the final
barrier, the Frenchman had the race and gold medal in the bag, having
enough time in hand to showboat by stripping off his running vest before
putting it into his mouth and waving to the crowd.
Fans in the Letzigrund
Stadium in Zurich jeered as he crossed the finishing line clear of his
teammate Yoann Kowal in eight minutes 25.30 seconds -- his third
straight victory in the event at the championships after 2010 and 2012.
The 29-year-old had the presence of mind to put his top back after the finish, but the damage was done.
He was initially shown a
yellow card as a warning by an official, but an appeal by Spain on
behalf of fourth placed athlete Angel Mullera led to his
disqualification. Spain's Angel Mullera was however promoted t the bronze spot.
No comments:
Post a Comment