Ara Abrahamian

Ara Abrahamian (born 27 July 1975 in Leninakan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union [http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/1/231301.shtml] ) is a retired Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler. He has won two World Championships in the 76 kg and 84 kg weight classes and a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 84 kg weight class.

He also won the bronze match at the 2008 Summer Olympics [ [http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/1/231301.shtml Ara Abrahamian profile] , official 2008 Olympics site, 2008-08-14] and was awarded the medal, but rejected it because of a controversial ruling in the semifinal. During the highly publicised medal ceremony, Abrahamian protested by dropping the medal in the center of the mat and walking away. He was later disqualified by the IOC and stripped of his rejected bronze medal for disrupting the award ceremony. [http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/08/16/olympics.round-up/?iref=hpmostpop]

Biography

Abrahamian began his wrestling career at the age of eight in Soviet Armenia. He became Armenian junior champion on three occasions . In 1994 he arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, to compete in the Stockholm Junior Open, which he won. He defected from the Armenian national team and instead joined the Swedish one.

Participation in the Olympics

2000 Summer Olympics

Abrahamian represented Sweden in Greco-Roman Wrestling in the 2000 Summer Olympics in the 69-76 kg weight category.

2004 Summer Olympics

Abrahamian's participation in the 2004 Summer Olympics was planned to mark the end of his career, and he was determined to bring home the gold medal. After losing the prolonged final with Alexei Michine of Russia, Abrahamian wrote on his homepage: "The final ended 1-1. That means losing, in case you meet a Russian." [ [http://www.ara.se/ Official home page] . See entry dated August 31, 2004 in the news section (Swedish)]

2008 Summer Olympics

emi final

Following a loss in the semi finals of the Greco-Roman 84 kg event at the 2008 Summer Olympics to the eventual winner Andrea Minguzzi of Italy, he and the Swedish coach Leo Mylläri disputed the judges' ruling. Mylläri accused the judges of corruption because they initially awarded Abrahamian a point, but after the round they assigned the point and the match to Minguzzi because Abrahamian had his hand in the blue zone. Normally, having a hand in the blue zone is not penalized. Minguzzi had almost his whole body in the blue zone earlier in this match. [cite web|url=http://www.expressen.se/sport/OS/1.1265484/abrahamian-jag-ar-stolt-over-vad-jag-gjorde |title=Abrahamian: "Jag är stolt över vad jag gjorde"|language=Swedish| accessdate = 2008-08-14] Therefore the Swedes demanded a video review of the match, but the referees refused to review the recording of the incidents nor consider the written Swedish protest. [cite web|url= http://sydsvenskan.se/sport/os/article356648/Ara-Abrahamian-lurad-pa-OS-final.html|title=Ara lurad på OS-final|language=Swedish|accessdate= 2008-08-15|date= 2008-08-14|publisher= Sydsvenskan]

Medal ceremony

Abrahamian returned to the event to compete in the resulting bronze bout and won. After he received his medal at the ceremony, he calmly shook the hand of the presenter and then the hand of the other bronze medal winner. He then stepped off the podium and placed the medal in the center of the wrestling mat and left the ceremony. [cite news|title=Wrestler tosses aside bronze medal|work=Sports Illustrated|language=English|publisher=CNN|date=2008-08-14|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/08/14/wrestler.medal/?cnn=yes|accessdate=2008-08-14] [cite news|last=Hamilton|first=Douglas|title=Angry Swede throws down medal and quits|work=Sport|language=English|publisher=Reuters|date=2008-08-14|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idUKPEK17319620080814?sp=true|accessdate=2008-08-14] Abrahamian complained later about the corrupt judges and declared that he was retiring from the sport. Abrahamian says that the judges had been bribed, and reminded that the judge through marriage is related to Raphaël Martinetti, the President of FILA, the governing body of wrestling. [cite web|url=http://www.expressen.se/sport/OS/Brottning/1.1265426/mattdomaren-ar-kusin-med-presidenten-for-internationella-brottningforbundet|title=Mattdomaren är kusin med presidenten för internationella brottningförbundet|language=Swedish |date= 2008-08-14|publisher=Sydsvenskan]

IOC hearing

The International Olympic Committee held a "disciplinary hearing" on Abrahamian after the incident [cite web|url= http://in.reuters.com/article/worldOfSport/idINIndia-35011520080814|title= IOC disciplinary meeting over Abrahamian|accessdate= 2008-08-15|date= 2008-08-15|publisher= Reuters] , where it was decided that Abrahamian would be disqualified and excluded from the Olympic Games due to "violating the spirit of fair play". [PDF| [http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_1354.pdf Full text of the IOC EB Decision regarding Mr Ara Abrahamian] |29.2 KB] After the hearing, Abrahamian declared to a Swedish newspaper that the FILA representative stated after 1.5 hours into the hearing that he couldn't speak English, and he merely read some lines from a paper he had written in French. [cite web|url=http://www.expressen.se/sport/OS/Brottning/1.1267370/finas-representant-kunde-inte-engelska|title=Finas representant kunde inte engelska|language=Swedish|date= 2008-08-16|publisher= Expressen]

CAS hearing

The Court of Arbitration for Sport also held a hearing based on the request which was issued by Abrahamian and the Swedish Olympic Committee against the FILA. Preceding the hearing CAS declared in a statement that Abrahamian and the SOC "do not seek from the CAS any particular relief" regarding the ranking of the medals or a review of the IOC decision to exclude Abrahamian from the games. [cite web|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/20/sports/AS-OLY-WRE-CAS-Abrahamian.php|title=CAS asked to rule on Swedish wrestler case|date=2008-08-21|publisher=The Associated Press]

Following the CAS issued an arbitration [cite web|url=http://www.tas-cas.org/d2wfiles/document/1915/5048/0/Award%20OG%2008%20007%20FINAL.pdf|title=CAS arbitration N° CAS OG 08/007 FINAL AWARD in the arbitration between SNOC/Abrahamian & FILA|publisher=Court of Arbitration for Sport] strongly criticizing FILA. Not challenging the outcome of the match and the technical judgments, the arbitration stated that the FILA is required to provide an appeal jury capable to deal promptly with the claims of the athletes. Moreover, CAS, concluded that "In any event, FILA did not follow Article 22 properly, if at all, or provide any other appropriate appeal mechanism in this case." [cite web|url=http://www.tas-cas.org/d2wfiles/document/1915/5048/0/Award%20OG%2008%20007%20FINAL.pdf|title=CAS arbitration N° CAS OG 08/007 FINAL AWARD in the arbitration between SNOC/Abrahamian & FILA|publisher=Court of Arbitration for Sport]

The chairman of the SOCommittee, Stefan Lindeberg, commented that the decision once and for all shows that FILA did not act correctly and that they did not follow their own rules of fair play.

Major achievements

References

External links

* [http://www.ara.se/ Ara Abrahamian] , official website
* [http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/1/231301.shtml Ara Abrahamian] , profile at the 2008 Summer Olympics website

Persondata
NAME=Abrahamian, Ara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH=27 July 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH=Leninakan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=