Why are Swedish athletes such poor sports?

Question

I heard on the radio about the Swedish wrestler who threw his bronze medal on the floor and walked off the stage. Is that in the spirit of the Olympics? I used to think Scandinavian athletes were good sports but now I think they aren't, this guy is an embarassment to his country and the Olympic games. The American team wouldn't let an athlete get away with acting that way, even if the wrestler was cheated.

Answer 1

So the unfortunate actions of one angry guy leads you to make a negative generalization and negatively stereotype every single athlete from that country? Wow...I really hope everyone reading this doesn't  do what you did and think all Americans are narrow-minded just because you are.

Answer 2

America did the exact same thing at the Munich Olympics. When the US basketball team didn't agree with an umpire decision that cost them the game they refused to accept their silver medals and some of the players even put it in their will that their decedents couldn't accept the medal for them posthumously.  So yeah comparing them to the US is probably pretty stupid as your history in the Olympics is just as cloudy as every other country competing.

Answer 3

It was just one guy! don't generalize the whole Swedish population because of one bad person.

Every country has one bad person in the olympics. Don't Generalize the Americans either. They have shown amazing sportsmanship.

Answer 4

No, the Americans just accuse everyone who beats them of cheating.  That's what a good sport does.

Answer 5

Calling him Swedish is almost unfair.  He was born in Armenia with Armenian decent.  Yes he made be a naturalized citizen but he does not represent the people that lived their entire life in Sweden.  One athlete does not make a very good representation of a country as a whole.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ara_Abraham...

Answer 6

While Ara Abrahamian's actions were undoubtedly immature and unsportsmanlike, I don't think we should negatively judge Swedish athletes as a whole. Though he failed to represent his country in a positive manner, it really isn't fair to stereotype the entire nation based on his model.

Answer 7

its just one guy...scandinavian hockey players are probably the most level headed players ive ever seen.

Answer 8

This was only one spoilt brat from an entire team.

However, I wouldn't bring the USA into the debate on refusing medals.

The most famous incident of this is from the men's basketball in 1972 when the Soviet Union beat the USA in the final. The USA refused to attend the medal ceremony and still to this day refuse to accept the silver medals and are still demanding to be given the gold.

The win was controversial but an appeal panel at the time did uphold the result.

also:

Since January 2003, IAAF rules state that after any false start committed, all athletes are warned. Any subsequent false start by any athlete leads to immediate disqualification.

In the 2003 world championships, (held in August that year) USA 100m runner Jon Drummond  was disqualified under this rule. He refused to accept it and laid down on the track over 3 lanes and refused to move for over an hour.

However again, these were isolated incidents most of the USA team are also good sports.