Court: Wrestler who dropped medal was right
By (AP)

BEIJING (AP) – It turns out that the Greco-Roman wrestler who was
stripped of his bronze medal for dropping it in disgust on the mat had
reason for being angry, according to the Court of Arbitration for
Sport.

Ara Abrahamian of Sweden complained to CAS that a penalty in the
second round of his 84-kilogram bout on Aug. 14 against Italian Andrea
Minguzzi wasn’t assessed until after the round ended. Once factored
in, Abrahamian automatically lost the match. Minguzzi went on to win
the gold medal.

Abrahamian’s coach was then denied a request for a video review, then
the wrestling federation’the International Federation of Associated
Wrestling Styles, or FILA’refused to consider a protest.

The 28-year-old Abrahamian had to be restrained from going after
matside officials following his loss to Minguzzi. He stormed away from
the area where interviews are conducted and slammed a door to the
dressing rooms.

After he was given his bronze during the medals ceremony, Abrahamian
walked off the podium, went over to mat and dropped it in disgust and
walked away. On Aug. 15, the International Olympic Committee
disqualified Abrahamian and stripped his medal for violating the
spirit of fair play during the medal ceremony.

The Armenian-born Abrahamian’who also lost a 2004 Olympic semifinal
match on a disputed call – initially wanted judges in the bout tossed
out and his medal restored. But in the end, he only wanted CAS to
verify that the lack of an immediate appeals process is a loophole
that needs to be fixed. It also was referred to as a violation of `the
Olympic Charter and FILA’s own rules about fair play.’

Judges said Abrahamian was right.

`We limit ourselves to ruling that FILA must, consistently with the
(Olympic) Charter and general principles of fairness, establish for
the future a jury of appeal to determine the validity or otherwise of
complaints of the kind ventilated by (Abrahamian),’ the judges wrote.

Elsewhere in the 20-page ruling, judges noted several times that FILA
did not appear at a hearing.
From: Baghdasarian