Angry At Judges, He Throws Medal Away

ANGRY AT JUDGES, HE THROWS MEDAL AWAY
Allan Maki

Globe and Mail
August 15, 2008
Canada

Swedish wrestler, who felt he should have gone on to gold-medal match,
gives bronze medal the toss

BEIJING — Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian accepted his bronze medal
Thursday then stepped off the podium and threw it away.

The 33-year-old Armenian-born wrestler dropped his medal on the mat
and walked away to protest what he called "a corrupt system."

"I think the semi-final shows that FILA [wrestling’s governing body]
does not play fair," Abrahamian told reporters. "I didn’t deserve to
lose. The system is corrupt."

Abrahamian lost a 3-1 decision to Italy’s Andrea Minguzzi in the
84-kiolgram Greco-Roman semi-final at the Chinese Agricultural
University Gym. After the match, Abrahamian shouted at the referee
and judges and had to be restrained by a team official.

Swedish wrestling coach Leo Myllari said of Abrahamian’s loss:
"It’s all political."

The Abrahamian-Minguzzi match featured a Swiss referee, a Cuban
mat chairman and Canadian judge Lee MacKay of Ottawa, a 53-year-old
Olympic veteran who also judged four years ago in Athens. MacKay was
unavailable for comment.

In Greco-Roman wrestling, the mat chairman has the ultimate say. He
can agree with the referee and judge or overrule them. The post-match
speculation was that Abrahamian had been "screwed" but that it was
unlikely filing an appeal would change anything.

"My friends called me 20 minutes before [the bronze-medal match]
begging me to compete," said Abrahamian, a mechanic in Stockholm. "I
decided I had come this far and I could not let them down. So I
decided to wrestle … I don’t care about this medal."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress