What do you think of the Swedish Wrestler's behavior during the medal ceremony. ?

Question

If you have not heard about it, here is a link.http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Wrestler-throws-medal-MSNBC-doesn-t-care?urn=oly,100857&post_comment=1&success=1

What kind of punishment do you think that he should be given for his attitude and comments?

Answer 1

i think it was really rude, there are many athletes who would have LOVED to have gone home with a medal of any sort.

Answer 2

No punishment, he didn't necessarily do anything wrong.  If you felt cheated, you'd do the same thing, perhaps less yelling...  I haven't seen the match to know if he in fact was cheated but I'm willing to suspend judgment until I do.

If something actual was corrupt here and he did nothing about it, nothing would get fixed.  He may very well be wrong, but if he's right then his demonstration has brought attention to it.

I'll bet if the US women's gymnastics team did this in protest of the Chinese gymnastics team or the judges a  lot of these comments would look much different.  You have to look at it from their perspective.

Answer 3

yeah he doesn't need to be punished, he had a lot of fun at the olympics

as seen here

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 4

It would be a great video to show children what a poor loser looks like.  

Answer 5

This is what I posted to a similar question:

Agreed! Pathetic behavour from a grown man... 2 year olds might get away with something like that in kindergarten, but in the Olympics... Not acceptable if you ask me! They should take the medal from him and give it to runner up, number 4. I am sure he would be happy to take it!

People who act like that put a huge damper on the good atmosphere!

For the punishment: I think the shame his country (Sweden) must feel is enough....

Answer 6

I haven't seen the match so I can't say whether it was warranted or not but I think people need to remember that the top Athletes in the world aren't just happy to be at the Olympics... they want gold.

If you were even in the top ten in your sport, you would probably devote four years of work into winning gold and not just into making the Olympics or coming in second or third. Nobody remembers who finishes 3rd.

That being said while these actions may seem childish if this guy was in any way screwed out of a gold medal, it's disgusting. It's one thing to lose a medal to someone who is better than you but it is quite a different thing to have a medal denied from you for no reason.

But I don't think the IOC can punish him even if he's in the wrong. It's his bronze and he can do with it what he wants.

Answer 7

His behavior was absolutely heinous!  He has the right to challenge a score, but there are official channels to do that--none of which he applied.  His teammates had to restrain him which meant he had the potential to get pretty violent with the judges.  Thank goodness they were wrestlers, too.  

He hit an aluminum barricade going in.  In college, I've thrown my fencing mask when I lost a bout.  My coach definitely put me in my place for unsportsman-like conduct. I'm glad he corrected me when he did. I could have been thrown off the team.  

He threw his bronze medal to the ground at the medals ceremony, disrespecting Minguzzi's moment to honor his flag and his country.  

On top of all that, the Swedish coach said: "It's political."  He didn't even have the fortitude to apologize to the world for the conduct of his athlete.  He should be kicking his you-know-what right now.  That type of inaction creates whiners and babies.

If he'd just been merely upset, walked away and handled the medals ceremony with dignity, he could have kept what he garnered.  But, no, a bronze, third place, third best in the world compared to all others in his sport and class--oh, no---that wasn't even good enough for him.

On all those accounts, in my not so humble opinion, the IOC rightfully took away his medal.  That was utterly, and I mean, utterly, disgraceful and an embarrassment to his team and his countrymen.  He does not deserve to earn the title of Olympian with conduct like that.  If he had any self-respect left, he would apologize.  And if he doesn't, he should pursue his dream of quitting, like the pitifully sore loser that he is.  

Answer 8

He was a big baby. This is a professional stage, and its the Olympics at that. So no burst of anger is justified. He did it against the judges and then didn't accept a medal for what he did accomplish.

First off he should be happy he's at the Olympics. And if he was dealt with unfairly, take it up with the Olympics' committee in a professional matter. He just embarassed his country.

And believe me with Bush as our President here in America, i know an embarassment when I see one lol.