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The Olympic games are supposed to be about sportsmanship more then anything else. But on Thursday Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian demonstrated anything but that, throwing down his greco-roman bronze medal in protest after his quest for a gold medal was thwarted by a decision his coach deemed as “politics”.

Abrahamian tosses his bronze medal to the floor during the medal ceremony.

Since I did not watch the match I am not completely sure about what “decision” the wrestler and his coach are referring to, but one thing if for sure, an Olympic bronze medal is nothing to be tossed aside. I am sure that there are a number of other wrestlers who would have gladly accepted the award had they been given the opportunity.

The incident occurred during a match with eventual gold medalist Andrea Minguzzi of Italy. At one point the Swedish wrestler had to be restrained by teammates as he shouted at judges over the devision in his semifinal bout with Minguzzi. He shouted at both the referee and the judges and then approached their seats to speak with them face to face. After he was done speaking his mind he turned and left the arena, refusing to speak to reporters, but making his feelings known by punching an aluminum barricade as he exited.

Abrahamian was in such a state of depressed rage that he nearly did not compete in the bronze medal match, but was convinced by some of his friends to do so.

I understand that Abrahamian is upset with what he called a “totally unjustified” decision and the fact that this was his last Olympics and his final chance to earn a gold medal, he won a silver medal in Athens in 2004, but to act like this is just not what the Olympics is supposed to be about.

Every event that is judged by humans will always have some amount of error as we have seen in many Olympics past, especially in events like gymnastics scoring can be seemingly unfair and lopsided, but such is the nature of the event. Yet, how many times have you seen gymnasts throw down their medal during a ceremony and walk away?

In my opinion whether Abrahamian has a legitmate cause or not it shouldn’t matter. What defines a man more then anything is not how he acts in victory, but how he conducts himself in the face of defeat. Abrahamian showed us a lot about the type of man he is.

As of today the Swedes have yet to file a formal protest, but after the way Abrahamian acted I doubt the Olympic committee would look to kindly on any protest he filed anyway.