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Times of Malta, Malta
March 3 2013
Wrestling champion on hunger strike
Double Olympic wrestling champion Armen Nazaryan has decided to go on
a hunger strike to protest against the sport's possible exclusion from
the Games.
`I'm protesting against the recommendation to drop wrestling from the
Olympics,' Nazaryan, 38, was quoted as saying by the Russian wrestling
federation on its website (www.wrestrus.ru).
`Wrestling has always been part of the Olympic programme and it's not
right to exclude it from the Games.
`I'm starting my hunger strike and from now on I will drink only
syrup,' said Armenia-born Nazar-yan, who won gold in Greco-Roman
wrestling at the 1996 Atlanta Games, competing for his native country.
He then switched his allegiance to Bulgaria, winning his second
Olympic title four years later in Sydney. Nazaryan also won three
world titles for Bulgaria from 2002 to 2005.
Last month, the IOC made a surprise recommendation to drop the ancient
sport from the 2020 Summer Games.
The decision has outraged the wrestling community throughout the
world, prompting two former champions, Bulgaria's Valentin Yordanov
and Russia's Sagid Murtazaliev, to return their Olympic gold medals
back to the IOC in protest.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130303/sport/Wrestling-champion-on-hunger-strike.459919
March 3 2013
Wrestling champion on hunger strike
Double Olympic wrestling champion Armen Nazaryan has decided to go on
a hunger strike to protest against the sport's possible exclusion from
the Games.
`I'm protesting against the recommendation to drop wrestling from the
Olympics,' Nazaryan, 38, was quoted as saying by the Russian wrestling
federation on its website (www.wrestrus.ru).
`Wrestling has always been part of the Olympic programme and it's not
right to exclude it from the Games.
`I'm starting my hunger strike and from now on I will drink only
syrup,' said Armenia-born Nazar-yan, who won gold in Greco-Roman
wrestling at the 1996 Atlanta Games, competing for his native country.
He then switched his allegiance to Bulgaria, winning his second
Olympic title four years later in Sydney. Nazaryan also won three
world titles for Bulgaria from 2002 to 2005.
Last month, the IOC made a surprise recommendation to drop the ancient
sport from the 2020 Summer Games.
The decision has outraged the wrestling community throughout the
world, prompting two former champions, Bulgaria's Valentin Yordanov
and Russia's Sagid Murtazaliev, to return their Olympic gold medals
back to the IOC in protest.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130303/sport/Wrestling-champion-on-hunger-strike.459919