The 2008 Olympic Games

[hegeland]

Hero of the day for me is Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian who has taken a stand against one of the most corrupt decisions I've ever seen a judge make in any sport.

Wrestling is probably the most corrupt sport in the olympics.

"Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian vows to quit after throwing away Olympic medal.

Ara Abrahamian has said he will quit the sport after he walked out of a presentation ceremony in Beijing and threw his medal to the floor. Abrahamian discarded the medal he won in the 84kg greco-roman competition in protest at his semi-final defeat to the eventual gold medallist, Andrea Minguzzi of Italy.

Abrahamian, the silver medallist at Athens 2004, announced he was quitting the sport after his bronze medal bout. "This will be my last match. I wanted to take gold, so I consider this Olympics a failure," the 33-year-old said.

The Swedish camp were furious with the judges' decision to award victory to Minguzzi, but had to restrain Abrahamian as he confronted officials.

Fans booed loudly as the judges filed out of the Chinese Agricultural University Gym, while the defeated gold-medal hope whacked an aluminium barricade with his fist as he left the arena.

It was only after friends had pleaded with him to continue that he took part in the bronze medal bout. "I decided that I had come this far and didn't want to let them down, so I wrestled," Abrahamian said.

However, during the ceremony, Abrahamian took the medal from around his neck, stepped from podium and dropped it in the middle of the mat before storming off."

[hegeland]

I found this article from a Swedish newspaper to be very interesting? What do you think?

"He is a multiple world champion and olympic silver medallist. For 16 years he was also a member of the International Wrestling Assocciation board, Fila. After having seen Ara Abrahamian in the Olympic semifinals Pelle Svensson, 66, tells of a sport where bribes are a part of the business, about a death threats from a Russian leader and his struggle to make wrestling a clean sport.

"I have kept silent about all this, but I have to talk now, for the sake of Ara", says Svensson to sportbladet.se.

It sounds like something taken from a a bad spy novel, but what Pelle Svensson tells about the wrestling world is a frightening story in which his fight for clean sport has been almost hopeless, and today he saw a further confirmation that something is wrong in the sport he loves.

"Ara did not make any errors. They punished him for 'escape from the carpet', but not in any phase, he was off the carpet. The swedish team lodged a protest, but Fila dismissed it. It says in the rule book that that obvious referee mistakes shall be reviewed by looking at the video replay after the match.", says Svensson.

The fact that this didn't happen is no direct surprise to Pelle Svensson. He knows better than anyone how things work in the wrestling world.

"Back in Sydney 2000 they tried to remove Mikael Ljungberg (gold medallist), but he was far too strong so they couldn't do anything. The judge was shut down for two years afterwards, but it was just to put the lid on the problems, no real solution.", says Svensson.

Four years later, it was time again. Ara Abrahamian was up in the Olympic final in Athens 2004 against the Russian Alexey Misjin and Pelle Svensson was there.

"I was there with King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. I explained to the king how the rules worked, and then sat with the king in case he would have more questions. Suddenly the king asked me:
-The man in pink shirt, who is it?
-Yes, it was the Russian leader and I explained to the king, and then I asked him why he wondered.
-Well, he is behaving like a referee and he is doing signs to the secondary referee all the time.

Pelle Svensson, who was then chairman of the Fila disciplinary committee, immediatley left the king and went up to the Russian leader and declared that he was not allowed to make the characters to the judge.

"I took hold of him and he turned away from me. Somehow his shirt was ripped apart. He came loose and so he turned to me and said: You should know that this could be your death.", says Svensson.

The Russian leader, whose name is Mikhail Mamiachvili, is now a member of the Fila board, who said that. A death threat?

"I perceived it that way. I reported it to Raphael Martinetti, President of Fila. He said it was regrettable."

Svensson then got evidence that the judge in the finale was bribed. A final that Ara Abrahamian lost on points even though he was by far the most active of the two wrestles, according to Svensson.

"It was a six-figure bribe. The judge was a poor Romanian. My witness was a trainer who wished to remain anonymous."

Why have you not told about this externally before?

"I decided to do it when I retired, but when I saw Ara [in Beijing 2008] lose because of the ref for the second time, he has fought for this for eight years and twice been stolen on the gold, so then I can not keep quiet any longer. "

He has been in contact with the Swedish Olympic Committee, SOK's chairman Stefan Lindeberg.

"He listened and I asked him to contact Gunilla Lindberg, vice-chairman of the IOC (international Olympic Committee) so that they take hold of this. They must demand a corruption free referee system, or otherwise remove wrestling from the Olympic program.

Pelle Svensson came up with a proposal for such a system in which the referees would be randomly selected just before the match which would make bribery nearly impossible. A proposal that Fila said no to.

"Then I felt that it was not an idea to remain in the Fila and I am glad that I was not present in Beijing today and must be accountable to the Swedish wrestlers because of a system that does not work. "

Pelle Svensson is upset, for its sports behalf and on behalf of Ara Abrahamian.

"And now when they talk about them to take away his bronze so I am even more upset. It was not a protest against the IOC but to the judges who didn't upheld the oath they have sworn."

[calebk]

So much for the Olympic spirit. I doubt his stand will make much of a difference though. It'll take something a lot bigger to stop corruption.

[Wim]

Pieter van den Hoogenband quits swimming. He says, the new generation is too quick for him.

Yes, Van den Hoogenband is 30 and this was his 4th olympic final in the 100 m free style, winning gold in Athens and Sydney already. The 100 m free style is the most prestigious and difficult one to swim so it is a shame - if some small critics are allowed here - that Phelps didn't want to swim it. Mark Spitz did when he won his 7 golden medals.

I found some highlights (about 1.30 min) of the US basket team playing yesterday.
It s from Flemish television but in fact no comment is needed, hope you can access it, the last part is phenomenal.
http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/me...ympia/1.360499

[Kathrin]

No medals for Belgium so far ...anyone who wants to share one with us

I feel sorry for Belgium, so I´ve changed my mind
We´ve got 8 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals. Feel free to choose one
But please not the one we got for swimming today, took us 16 years to get it...

[calebk]

We finally have a chance to win our first gold medal at anything! Our top badminton player made it to the final. He'd better win but he's gonna have to play against the crowd as well.

[attilahun]

Rowing
Romania win their third successive gold medal in the women's pairs as Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu outclass the field for a comfortable victory.

More medals to come......

[Valderie]

Golds in Swimming, Rowing, Cycling - brilliant day for Team GB!!!

[Monique]

Incredible performance from Usain Bolt. Gripping match in Beach Volley between Russia and Brasil and ... Belgium outs Italy in footie

[Wim]

Incredible performance from Usain Bolt. Gripping match in Beach Volley between Russia and Brasil and ... Belgium outs Italy in footie

Indeed, Bolt needed just 41 steps for his 100 m golden medal and WR! And yes we are in the semi's against Nigeria in footie ,wow !!

I feel sorry for Belgium, so I´ve changed my mind
We´ve got 8 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals. Feel free to choose one
But please not the one we got for swimming today, took us 16 years to get it...

So you have changed your mind Kathrin, don't worry we know women often do But I better keep your promise in mind in case...
Anyway the swimming for the Germans is like hell. They have to wear the special Adidas swim pack (Adidas sponsor of the German team) and these are much slower than e.g the speedo pack the other teams wear. So some very unhappy swimmers in the German team there.

The US basket ball team has beaten Spain - one of the favorites- easily. The NBA stars rule this event. Whatever the opponent does it doesn't work: floating zone defense by Spain, pick-and-roll basket by Greece etc ...they are simply too strong.

[Anastasia]

At least gold medal for Bulgaria Rumiana Neikova-rowing .

[Valderie]

4 more Golds for England. This is the first time that I can remember that after all the huge hype at home, the team has actually come up with the brilliant results!

[trigger666]

what a morning for GBR !!!

[Black_cat]

Olympic Marathon gold medal for Romania.
Constantina Dita-Tomescu.
38 years old.

That is all.

[attilahun]

Olympic Marathon gold medal for Romania.
Constantina Dita-Tomescu.
38 years old.

That is all.

Not quite...Another Bronze medal for Romania in rowing in women's eight, behind USA and Holland...