Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Angry Swede Throws Down Medal, Quits

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Angry Swede Throws Down Medal, Quits

    ANGRY SWEDE THROWS DOWN MEDAL, QUITS
    By Douglas Hamilton

    Reuters
    Thursday August 14 2008

    BEIJING, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw
    down his 84kg greco-roman bronze medal in protest on Thursday after
    his shot at Olympic wrestling gold was ended by a decision denounced
    by the Swedish coach as "politics".

    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 ring then walked off.

    The Swedish wrestler had to be restrained by team mates earlier as a
    row erupted with judges over the decision in a semi-final bout at the
    Chinese Agricultural University Gym with Andrea Minguzzi of Italy,
    who went on the take gold.

    Abrhamian, who won silver at the Athens 2004 Games, shouted at the
    referee and judges then went over to their row of chairs to speak to
    them up close.

    He angrily threw off the restraining arm of a team official then
    turned and left.

    Swedish fans booed loudly as the judges filed out of the
    arena. Abrahamian said nothing to waiting reporters but whacked an
    aluminium barricade with his fist as he left the hall.

    "It's all politics," said Swedish wrestling coach Leo Myllari.

    Myllari did not say if he intended to lodge a formal protest over the
    decision by referee Jean-Marc Petoud of Switzerland, judge Lee Ronald
    Mackay of Canada, and mat chairman Guillermo Orestes Molina of Cuba.

    Other favourites went out in the semi-finals or earlier.

    Athens 96kg gold medallist Karam Gaber of Egypt failed to make it to
    the quarter-finals. Aleksey Mishin of Russia, who took Athens gold in
    the 84kg class, was beaten by Minguzzi. Ramaz Nozazde of Georgia, who
    took silver in Athens, succumbed to Marek Svec of the Czech Republic,
    still fighting at age 35. Svec then lost to Russia's European champion
    Aslanbek Kushtov, who caught him with a spectacular fall.

    In the heavyweight 120kg class, Armenia's Yuri Patrikeev and Dremiel
    Byers of the United States, both favoured as finalists, failed to
    go through.
Working...
X