Another Olympic Ass
From Reuters:
Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw down his Olympic bronze medal in protest on Thursday after his bid for greco-roman gold was ended by a decision denounced by the Swedish coach as “politics”.
Abrahamian took the bronze from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the wrestling mat then walked off.
“I don’t care about this medal. I wanted gold,” he said.
A bitter Abrahamian, silver medallist at Athens 2004 who had high hopes of top honours in the 84kg competition in Beijing, announced he was quitting the sport.
“This will be my last match. I wanted to take gold, so I consider this Olympics a failure,” the 33-year-old said.
The gold medal winner, Andrea Minguzzi, said, “Certainly one can always question decisions made in the course of refereeing, but in sports it is appropriate to show sportsmanship and accept the results.” Minguzzi also added that the situation “did in a way spoil the victory ceremony for me.”
I think Minguzzi pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter. I don’t understand the poor sportsmanships these Olympians are displaying. I mean, has the focus on physical achievement completely clouded ethical achievement, which seems to me a far more valuable quality. One would hope that the focus on achieving greatness would carry over to one’s moral achievements or goals.
A commentator on my previous Olympic Ass post points out there is always the hope for redemption. I can only hope that this Swedish ass recognizes the value in his achievement–bronze is not failure.
This reminds me of all those stupid headlines about film stars who are “snubbed” for various awards, dismissing the idea that those who HAVE been nominated didn’t deserve it. We need to honor the winners, acknowledge fine work by those who don’t win the top accollades, and strive to be people we recognize as winners when we look in the mirror.
