Way to go, Olympic judges. By “awarding” Swedish greco-roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian the bronze medal — when it was obvious to everybody that is effort was gold-medal-worthy — you’ve forced one of the sport’s biggest names and most charismatic figures into early retirement. Bravo, sirs.
Actually, I have no idea if Abrahamian is wildly popular in Greco-Roman wrasslin’ circles, or even if he’s particularly beguiling, but he’s certainly disgusted with Thursday’s outcome.
From REUTERS:
Abrahamian took the bronze from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the wrestling mat then walked off.
“I don’t care about this medal. I wanted gold … This will be my last match. I wanted to take gold, so I consider this Olympics a failure,” the 33-year-old said.
The Swedish coach denounced the decision as “politics” and teammates had to restrain Abrahamian from going “Kimbo Slice” on the judges as they hurriedly made their way out of the arena.
In less sad news, Italy’s Andrea Minguzzi, the undeserving* gold medalist, admitted that Abrahamian’s histrionics “did in a way spoil the victory ceremony for me”. He also added:
“Certainly one can always question decisions made in the course of refereeing, but in sports it is appropriate to show sportsmanship and accept the results.”
Couldn’t agree more. Like, say, telling your opponent that his mother is a “terrorist whore.” I think that qualifies as not showing appropriate sportsmanship.
*No idea if that’s true
6:35 pm on August 9th, 2009
I am a wrestler and Minguzzi deserved to win. “Abrahamian won his silver during the Olympic Games of Athens. It was in 2004. A lot time ago. If we consider his most recent competition before Beijing, we see a different wrestler. His most recent triumph was in 2007, where he took one medal in the European Championships of Tampere, Finland.
(He’s Scandinavian like referee and judges. We can speculate about his prize too). It was not gold. It was not silver. It was a bronze medal. During the same competition, his opponent Andrea Minguzzi took 3rd place. (Yes, like Abrahamian, in 2007 the Italian took
a bronze medal). There was no difference between him and the Italian. In addition Minguzzi took another bronze during the European Championships of Sofia, Bulgaria (2007). In Beijin Minguzzi defeated Aleksey Mishin of Russia (who took Athens gold in the 84kg class.) Mishin was by all means the most favored wrestler in this weight class (Abrahamian was
beaten by Mishim in 2004) and winner of the world championship of 2007. You can see
the competitions and read Mishin’s opinion about the defeat. In conclusion, if we speak about
wrestling skills, we can say that Minguzzi is a true champ. Try watching his matches.
Abrahamian is a strong wrestler too, but his performance of Finland, before the Olympic Games,
was not so good. Also, we must consider that Ara Abrahamian is 7 years older than Minguzzi,
and the age is important in wrestling. When you are old, skills and endurance decrease.
Now, if Abrahamian and his team were true sportmen, instead of bringing a charge against the judges saying “It’s all politics” and giving origin to a ridiculous comedy, they would have accepted
the medal and subsequently lodged a protest. Abrahamian acted childish and he is not a kid.
He is 34 years old.”