Swedish Wrestler throws his medal in disqust.

[midnight Target]

did they throw them like a bunch of 5 year olds?

No, they decided it was better to cross their arms, stomp one foot and do the pouty lip thing....

[CAP1]

Ava+Gold=Happy = No corruption

Did you watch the game yet?

Are you saying that it was a fair call?

i didn't see the game. i'm not saying that this guy wasn't wronged. i'm not saying he has no right to be pissed.

what i AM saying is that he could have handled it better. i read that his protest was turned down. then he could've gone above to the next higher authority.
 if he was able to rally the rest of the wrestlers by doing what he did, i'm sure he could've convinced them to stop performing before their respective matches came up.

 I thought i read in one of the earlier posts, that all of these guys knew that the judges were crooked? they could've nipped it in the bud then simply by not going. or stage a sit out once they did accept their invites, thus preventing someone else from takeing their places.

 there were a lot of options.
 someone else mentioned the gold and silver winners? why did they not throw theirs? with crooked judges they certianly didn't deserve them? apparently they're not backing this guy.

 so, although he was wronged, he is still doing what seems to be the common thing these days, and blaming someone else for what happened to him. he could've put a stop to this before it started. but then with the temper/mentality of a 5 year old, what else could we expect?

 and finally.....if you think it's ok that he threw his medal down......remember that when next your own kids throw a temper tantrum.  it's really ok, because they're only protesting your unfairness. their friends and siblings will back them up too.

<<S>>

[CAP1]

No, they decided it was better to cross their arms, stomp one foot and do the pouty lip thing....

lol

still a bit more mature. i actually read a bit farther down, and saw that they voted to refuse them. that was probably a better solution, in the long run

[Holden McGroin]

BEIJING — A Swedish wrestler has been disqualified and stripped of his bronze medal for dropping his medal in protest.

The International Olympic Committee says Ara Abrahamian has been kicked out of the Beijing Olympics for violating the spirit of fair play during the medal ceremony.

Abrahamian walked off the medals podium and dropped the medal on the mat after taking third in the Greco-Roman 84-kilogram division Thursday. He became incensed when a disputed penalty call decided his semifinal match against Italian Andrea Minguzzi, who went on to win the gold medal.

The IOC executive board ruled Saturday the wrestler's action amounted to a political demonstration and a mark of disrespect to his fellow athletes.

The IOC says no athlete will receive Abrahamian's medal.

[Druss]

Whether he was screwed or not does not excuse acting like a whiny, bratty, spoiled child at the ceremony. He could have, oh I don't know, maybe refused to go to the ceremony and issued a statement as to he reasons why. Maybe garner support from other screwed over athletes, petition the IOC to reform the judging, make hinself available for interviews where he can express his point in a clear, sane manner. No wait! Thats not childish enough! Yeah, throw a tantrum on camera at the ceremony. Yep, that'll teach those bad old judges!

He could have possibly made a difference, but he threw that away by acting like a nutcase.

[lasersailor184]

Whether he was screwed or not does not excuse acting like a whiny, bratty, spoiled child at the ceremony. He could have, oh I don't know, maybe refused to go to the ceremony and issued a statement as to he reasons why. Maybe garner support from other screwed over athletes, petition the IOC to reform the judging, make hinself available for interviews where he can express his point in a clear, sane manner. No wait! Thats not childish enough! Yeah, throw a tantrum on camera at the ceremony. Yep, that'll teach those bad old judges!

He could have possibly made a difference, but he threw that away by acting like a nutcase.

Wrong.  He acted perfectly.


We would have never heard about it if he merely "Refused to go to the ceremony."  He did exactly what was necessary to call out the judges.

[bj229r]

I always go back and forth on stuff like this--none of us, none of his countrymen, (OR the judges) practiced 12 hours a day for 3 years to the exclusion of all else to see all that work unfairly ripped away--were it me, (assuming all this is correct) I would have a REAL hard time not jumping over the table and choking that judge. Anyone remember '88 Korea and the boxing thing?

[Holden McGroin]

I always go back and forth on stuff like this--none of us, none of his countrymen, (OR the judges) practiced 12 hours a day for 3 years to the exclusion of all else to see all that work unfairly ripped away--were it me, (assuming all this is correct) I would have a REAL hard time not jumping over the table and choking that judge. Anyone remember '88 Korea and the boxing thing?

Yeah, that's when I started to hate NBC sports and especially Bryant Gumble.

30 Minutes of live coverage of somebody sitting on his bellybutton in the middle of a boxing ring when boxing was taking place in the other ring.  When the Single scull finals were taking place.  When they could have been covering something other than someone doing nothing.

'He's broken the Olympic record for sitting and sulking." - Bryant Gumble

what a complete putz.

[CAP1]

Wrong.  He acted perfectly.


We would have never heard about it if he merely "Refused to go to the ceremony."  He did exactly what was necessary to call out the judges.

remember that next time your kids throw a hissy fit too. remember that they're acting perfectly.

[DREDIOCK]

Wrestling??
You mean there is wrestling in the Olympics??

Wow. based on the coverage I've seen nightly on NBC I thought it was only a swimming and gymnastics competition.

I didnt know there were other sports too!

[SkyRock]

  One thing I can't stand in olympics is cheating judges.....and it does happen. 

[rpm]

The whole reasoning behind Rip's stance boils down to a John Kerry thing. Kerry threw his medals so anyone that throws medals is bad. The '72 American Team doing this is a stick in his theological spokes. Note that he has'nt posted since it was brought up.

I'm surprised Donzo is the only one that picked up on it.

[sluggish]

Thought this was worth the punt to give this topic closure.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/wrestling/news?slug=ap-wre-abrahamian&prov=ap&type=lgns

It seems that many agree this athlete was cheated.

[Dowding]

the women's taekwando also suffered from ridiculous judging bias. A clear kick to the head was ignored by the Mexican judges, and the Chinese girl handed the win over the British one.

[thrila]

The refereeing has been poor at times in several events.

Matos wasn't too impressed with the refereeing either.