Comments on: A Tale of Two Bronze Medals http://sportales.com/sports/a-tale-of-two-bronze-medals/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:23:35 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: leili547 http://sportales.com/sports/a-tale-of-two-bronze-medals/comment-page-1/#comment-5827 leili547 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:08:56 +0000 http://sportales.com/sports/a-tale-of-two-bronze-medals/#comment-5827 Here's some more background on the Abrahamian case, mostly from www.aftonbladet.se<br /> <br /> - In the first round the referee was supposed to draw one ball from a bag containing one red and one blue ball. The swedish coach saw the referee looking inside the bag before pulling out the blue one, which later lead to the Italian being awarded the first period after it ended 1-1.<br /> - After Abrahamian won the second round and prepares for the third the referees decides to give him a warning and declares the Italian as winner. The referees first says the warning was given due to \"holding the arm\". Later they changed it to be due to \"fleeing the mat\".<br /> - The Swedish coach immediately requested a “video check”, as provided in the FILA rules, but was denied.<br /> - The Swedish coach handed in a written protest after the game, but FILA refused to even consider it which is against the rules of the Olympics.<br /> <br /> - Several wrestling experts have reviewed this in Swedish media and agree that the match was not fair. He definetly did not flee the mat which is clearly shown in the videos (the Italian did flee the mat but was not warned for this). <br /> - One referee tried to call Abrahamian 5 times and a Swedish coach 2 times before the game to warn them that the fight would not be fair.<br /> - One of the referees is from the Italian side of Switzerland and there\'s (unconfirmed?) information stating he was brought up in Italy.<br /> - This referee is cousin with the president of FILA.<br /> - The vice president of FILA is also the head coach of the Italian wrestling team.<br /> - A former high official with 20 years in FILA states that bribed referees are not uncommon.<br /> - The above official (now a lawyer) also states he has been shown evidence that one of the referees from the 2004 Olympic final was paid a large amount of money to give the match to the Russian. The final ended 1-1 and was then awarded the Russian and Abrahamian got the silver.<br /> <br /> To mee this seems to be more than a bad call from a referee, this seems to be corruption. Can anyone blame Abrahamian for his actions when he has been cheated from the gold in two Olympic games. I think the medal dropping was classy. Here’s some more background on the Abrahamian case, mostly from http://www.aftonbladet.se

- In the first round the referee was supposed to draw one ball from a bag containing one red and one blue ball. The swedish coach saw the referee looking inside the bag before pulling out the blue one, which later lead to the Italian being awarded the first period after it ended 1-1.
- After Abrahamian won the second round and prepares for the third the referees decides to give him a warning and declares the Italian as winner. The referees first says the warning was given due to \”holding the arm\”. Later they changed it to be due to \”fleeing the mat\”.
- The Swedish coach immediately requested a “video check”, as provided in the FILA rules, but was denied.
- The Swedish coach handed in a written protest after the game, but FILA refused to even consider it which is against the rules of the Olympics.

- Several wrestling experts have reviewed this in Swedish media and agree that the match was not fair. He definetly did not flee the mat which is clearly shown in the videos (the Italian did flee the mat but was not warned for this).
- One referee tried to call Abrahamian 5 times and a Swedish coach 2 times before the game to warn them that the fight would not be fair.
- One of the referees is from the Italian side of Switzerland and there\’s (unconfirmed?) information stating he was brought up in Italy.
- This referee is cousin with the president of FILA.
- The vice president of FILA is also the head coach of the Italian wrestling team.
- A former high official with 20 years in FILA states that bribed referees are not uncommon.
- The above official (now a lawyer) also states he has been shown evidence that one of the referees from the 2004 Olympic final was paid a large amount of money to give the match to the Russian. The final ended 1-1 and was then awarded the Russian and Abrahamian got the silver.

To mee this seems to be more than a bad call from a referee, this seems to be corruption. Can anyone blame Abrahamian for his actions when he has been cheated from the gold in two Olympic games. I think the medal dropping was classy.

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