Comments:Swedish wrestler throws away Olympic bronze medal, leaves

Stupid, incredibly stupid. Winning isn't everything. 71.59.187.238 02:41, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

What a cry baby.--KDP3 (talk) 08:48, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Should you accept wrongly made decisions?
Gold-winner Minguzzi said: "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."

Should you accept apparantly wrongly made, perhaps politically influenced, decisions?

At the Olympic Games in 1988 i Seoul in Korea, the initial judges in the boxing competitions were fired, due to partisan voting on behalf of South-Korean boxers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gosse72 (talk • contribs) 11:30, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

IOC exists mostly for thievery but they play politics plenty. I've no idea about this case but if he's wrong I'd just blame their politics for "bringing out the big babies." Nyarlathotep (talk) 13:15, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Lolz.
I knew that this Olympics was going to have at least one instance of idiocy, though I see this guy's side in the story. The judges in this Olympics have had some rather questionable judgement thus far, especially in regards to gymnastics. However, he should've taken it like a man.

-Thelastholdout —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.219.133.1 (talk) 13:47, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Referee
The referee is a cousin to the FILA-President (Supervisor of Wrestling). How can an Italian jury member judge a wrestling game where an Italian wrestler is included?
 * Obviously the FILA-President had to have some sort of country of origin. It happens that it's not Italy. Raphael Martinetti (the FILA-President) is Swiss. Nor is Italian, or italian-speaking, the referee, Jean-Marc Petoud (French-Swiss), nor were italian the judge Lee Ronald Mackay (Canada) and the mat chairman Guillermo Orestes Molina (Cuba) that decided for the penalty after seeing the video replay. International conspiracy or sci-fi movie?

It was corrupted all the way. The referee stated that Abrahamian left the mat and therefore Minguzzi was awarded a point. But nothing happened when Minguzzi left the mat TWICE. And they did not even take a look on the tape when Swedish coach demanded them to look again. A second referee gave another opinion about the situation; that Abrahamian did not take his arm off when the referee told him to. But this is not a reason for giving the other wrestler a point.

During the Sydney Olympics in 2000, a Swede, Michael Ljungberg, who actually won the gold when a Swedish FILA-member, Per Svensson, stated that he was almost robbed by the judges. Then the Swedish FILA-member stated to the judges to look again on the tape. He also told that FILA is full of corruption, that's why he retired.

Ara Abrahamian
This man is clearly the Poorest of Poor Sportsmen. There are correct ways to protest bad officiating, and what he did was not it. I quote the Olympic Oath taken by all of the athletes.

''In the name of all the competitors I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, committing ourselves to a sport without doping and without drugs, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams

Ara Abrahamian did not abide by the final part of this oath. SHAME ON HIM!!!

Subman758

Why shall Abrahamian abide that rule when the judges certainley did not obey IOC's rules? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.136.6.4 (talk) 16:22, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

--68.4.72.207 15:59, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

"but in sports it is appropriate to show sportsmanship and accept the results,"
That's poppycock. No one should be a good sport if they know they're being robbed. He did pitch a fit, but it would have been even more cowardly to participate in a farce. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.242.72.65 (talk) 22:26, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

I agree. I don't know the full story behind this case, but if there's corruption in this sport, Abrahamian was brave to take a high profile stand against it. He's just an athlete and not a politico - it may be the only way he knows to make a difference. There are probably many other instances of athletes and other members of the sports community just looking the other way to avoid trouble. 220.76.15.104 10:54, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

I want doesn't get!
Remind Ara Abrahamiam that the Olympics is a about sportsmanship. Sportsmanship is:

Full commitment to participation (e.g., showing up, working hard during all practices and games, acknowledging one’s mistakes and trying to improve); Respect and concern for rules and officials; Respect and concern for social conventions (e.g., shaking hands, recognizing the good performance of an opponent); Respect and concern for the opponent (e.g., lending one’s equipment to the opponent, agreeing to play even if the opponent is late, not taking advantage of injured opponents); Avoiding poor attitudes toward participation (e.g., not adopting a win-at-all-costs approach, not showing temper after a mistake, and not competing solely for individual prizes). Wikipedia

A man is judge not by how he handles success but by how he deals with failure. In terms of sportsmanship Ara Abrahamian does not even qualifiy as a man!

-86.145.168.10 09:51, 16 August 2008 (UTC)


 * OK, you spend four years working toward something, let's say a university degree, for argument's sake. Then you are told you cannot have the degree, not because you didn't complete the studies, but because they only award so many degree's each year and the dean's nephew needed a degree. Let's see how calm you are then.


 * Rhetorical question: how would possible corruption within a sport fit into the definition of sportsmanship above? 220.76.15.104 11:05, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Ara Abrahamian behaviour has, once again, illustrated that the archaic sport of Greco-Roman Wrestling should be dropped from the Olympics. There is no place for a 'sport' with ad hoc judging and unsportsmanlike behaviour in the 21st century. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.145.168.10 (talk) 10:39, 16 August 2008 (UTC) So then if an umpire calls 3 balls thrown over the head of a batter strikes the batter should be a good sport and just go sit down on the bench without so much as a complaint? Anyone who watched the match could see that it was fixed as obviously as the gymnastics. In my opinion all sports that require judging should be dropped from the olympics. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.248.128.196 (talk) 22:19, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

who to discipline?
Just exactly who does the IOC plan to discipline for Ara's act of protest? Ara? Probably won't matter to him and he will likely spit in the face of any member of the IOC who dares speak to him at this point. The Swedish Olympic Committee? Why them, they didn't place the medal on the mat or provoke Ara to act. If the IOC and the international wrestling community are embarrassed then perhaps they need to clean their own house before they turn their attention to others. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.41.189.16 (talk) 00:53, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Well he said he is done wrestling, so any penalty is moot. --SVTCobra 03:22, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

A clarification
Abrahamian was not penalized for straying in the blue zone. He was penalized (and had already been issued an unofficial warning by the judge for it, as well) because he was twisting Minguzzi's fingers to break free of a hold, an action which is FORBIDDEN in greco-roman wrestling.

Just for the record... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.80.200.156 (talk) 07:31, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Swedish Wrestler
I believe that the Swedish wrestler is right, and he rightfully deserved the gold medal. The Chinese referees are stupid! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.35.108.174 (talk) 04:46, 20 March 2009 (UTC)