1 of 7. Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad of France crosses the finish line with his vest in his hand, to win the men's 3000 metres steeplechase final during the European Athletics Championships at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich August 14, 2014. 
 
 ZURICH (Reuters) - Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad was stripped of the 3,000 metres 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 but turned out to be a premature celebration. 
 
 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 metres, took gold instead, ahead of Krystian Zalewski (Poland) and Spain’s Angel Mullera. 
 
 “When I took off my vest on the last metres, it was because of my joy, of course,” he 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 metres 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. 
 
 Elsewhere, double Olympic champion and former world champion Barbora Spotakova won her first European gold medal in the javelin, throwing 64.41 metres with her fifth effort. 
 
 Anzhelika Sidorova of Russia won the women's pole vault in dramatic style as she cleared 4.65 metres on her third and final attempt to move above Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece, who had finished her competition with a best of 4.60 but was ahead on countback. 
 
 Frenchman Benjamin Compaore's opening effort of 17.46 metres was enough to win the triple jump and Russia’s Sergey Shubenkov retained his title in the 110 metres hurdles as he won in 13.19 seconds. 
 
 (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne, editing by Pritha Sarkar) ||||| France’s Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad was on Thursday night dramatically disqualified as winner of the 3,000 metres steeplechase, after an astonishing climax to the race in which he had ripped off his shirt, goading the crowd by waving it around and clutching it in his teeth. 
 
 He was assailed by boos inside the Letzigrund Stadium for his gesture of disrespect and originally received a “yellow-card” warning, only for the punishment to be upgraded to an official disqualification after a protest by the Spanish team on behalf of Ángel Mullera, who had finished fourth but was subsequently moved up to bronze. The gold switched by default to Mekhissi-Benabbad’s compatriot Yoann Kowal. 
 
 The French immediately appealed, but the Zurich stewards came down harshly upon the athlete’s preposterous showboating and upheld the sanction. 
 
 Mekhissi-Benabbad said: “I celebrated my victory as a football player – there was no arrogance towards my opponents or the public. I have too much respect for my rivals and too much love for my sport to behave in an unsporting way. But I respect the judges’ decision.” 
 
 WATCH: 10 sporting celebrations that went disastrously wrong 
 
 Technically, he had fallen foul of the International Association of Athletics Federations’ edict that athletes’ bibs should not be obscured in any way during the race. Usain Bolt famously received a reprimand from Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, when he won the Olympic 100m final in Beijing in spite of shutting down with 20m left and punching his chest as he crossed the line – all the while setting a world record, of course. 
 
 In a wider context it did not help Mekhissi-Benabbad that he had already amassed an extensive behaviour of this type of loutish behaviour. 
 
 At the last European finals in Helsinki in 2012 the event mascot, a 14-year-old girl, came forward to offer him a gift, which he swatted to the ground before shoving her several steps backwards. A similar incident unfolded at the previous European Championships in Barcelona, where he asked the official mascot to kneel down before pushing it to the ground. 
 
 This was all in addition to becoming embroiled in an extraordinary punch-up with a French team-mate, Mehdi Baala, at the 2011 Monaco Diamond League meeting, raining blows upon his compatriot while they were still on the track. 
 
 The altercation seemed initially to have been provoked by a butt from Baala, and was only broken up when officials intervened. Both athletes received 10-month bans – with five months suspended – as the French federation condemned them for “unspeakable behaviour”, and they were each ordered to pay £1,000 fines and to perform 150 hours of community service. 
 
 After this latest controversy, it is understood to be unlikely that Mekhissi-Benabbad will compete in Saturday’s final of the 1500m. 
 
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 (CNN) -- 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 steeplechase 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. 
 
 Read: Bolt provides golden finale to Commonwealth Games 
 
 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. 
 
 His French team lodged a counter-protest but that was rejected, with Mekhissi-Benabbad disqualified under IAAF competition rules 143.1, 143.7. -- relating to clothing and numbers. 
 
 Mullera was promoted to the bronze as result of the ruling. 
 
 "I find that the protest lodged by the Spaniards is anti fair-play," Ghani Yalouzsa, the technical director of the French athletics federation, was quoted by AFP. 
 
 But the double Olympic silver medalist is no stranger to controversy. After winning his 2012 Euro gold in Helsinki he was criticized for shoving a mascot who offered him a gift. 
 
 The year before, Mekhissi-Benabbad was involved in a punch-up with French teammate Mehdi Baala at the 2011 Monaco Diamond League meeting, trading blows while they were still on the track and earning a five-month suspension from their federation.
– Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad has shown the world how you can be top of your game and still be a loser: As he approached the finish line in the 3,000m steeplechase at the European championships in Zurich, the French runner stripped off his vest, jammed it in his mouth, and waved to the crowd in a display of showboating that caused authorities to decide to strip him of his medal, reports CNN. The 29-year-old received a warning at first but authorities decided to take away the gold—technically because his runner's bib was not visible—after Spain appealed on behalf of the fourth-placed athlete. "When I took off my vest on the last meters, it was because of my joy, of course," the Frenchman said, as per Reuters, before he was stripped of what would have been his third consecutive gold in the event. "It was the pleasure of winning. I was so happy to defend my title." This is far from the first controversy involving Mekhissi-Benabbad, the Telegraph finds. He shoved a 14-year-old girl mascot to the ground at the European finals in 2012, pushed another mascot at the previous finals in Barcelona, and was suspended after fighting a teammate on the track at a 2011 event in Monaco.