After looking over the list of nominees for the Black Weblog Awards, I picked up my laptop, violently spiked it on the ground and screamed out in fit of roid rage, “I don’t want that award!!!!!!! I came here to win gold!!!!!!” Yes, people, if you’ve not heard to news: Ara Abrahamian is a madman. More on that in a bit …
Welcome to Manly Monday. In case you didn’t know, I’m a single, funky brown chick in New York City. I write about sex, dating and relationships on this blog, in print and online magazine articles and in (upcoming) books. It would be easy to be a jaded single woman who bitches & moans about her dating life. Truth be told, sometimes I am that woman. But, for better or worse, I like men. A lot. Most of my exboyfriends, fuckbuddies, friends, dates and other dudes have been amazing guys. They’ve planned my surprise birthday parties, fucked me really good when I needed it, kissed me in ways that made me feel cherished and gave me dinners, presents, drinks and priceless things like love, affection and companionship. I adore men. So, at the top of every week, we pay homage to the earth’s bedicked in a series called “Manly Mondays.” We’ve talked about men who date older women, Asian dudes, Pete Cashmore, white guys who date brown chicks, our favorite black nerds and we’ve also told guys how to hide their erections when needed. Today’s Manly Monday pick? Olympian Ara Abrahamian.
Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian is a 33-year-old lunatic. After losing to Italy’s Andrea Minguzzi, Ara got in the referee’s face, screamed out at International Olympic Committee officials, used his fist to punch some type of metal safety barrier thing and then … here’s the good part … WON a bronze medal for his earlier wrestling performance. Yes, people, the dude took the #3 slot in a worldwide competition. That’s quite an accomplishment, right?
Nope. Mr. Grumpypants wasn’t happy at all. After they gave Ara his award, he took it off his neck, dropped it on the ground and walked away. “I don’t care about this medal,” he told reporters. “I wanted gold.” A symbol of peace, love and happiness Ara is not. So, the IOC stripped him of his medal calling Ara’s behavior, “in itself an insult to the other athletes and to the Olympic movement. It is also contrary to the spirit of fair play.” You tell me: The Fury of Ara Abrahamian. Yes, they should’ve taken his medal away from him *OR* no, he rightfully earned it and he should’ve been allowed to keep it.
Now, circling back to a competition mentioned in the begining of this post …THANK YOU to everyone who nominated my site (FUNKY BROWN CHICK) for a BWA. I’m a finalist. :) Yay!!! Smooches and hugs for the support. Pretty please vote for me and some of my favorite blogs like Pam’s House Blend, Jack & Jill Politics, The Black Snob, Afrobella, Yeah … I Said IT / ListenToLeon and a bunch of other great blogs.
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Vote for me in the Black Weblog Awards
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
That kinda behavior is totally and completely inappropriate when it comes to being on the world stage with an event such as the Olympics. It is completely dead on and right between my 400 thread count sheets, though. That kinda craziness means he has to be a great fuck. Ara? Get at me.
Well, I didn’t see the situation, but from what you’ve relayed here, I think it all comes down to the standards that are set when you agree to be a participant in the Olympics.
You’re not just a swimmer or whatever… You’re a representative of your ENTIRE COUNTRY as well as the Olympic Games themselves. If part of your responsibilities are to carry yourself in a sportsmanlike fashion, then taking off a medal, throwing it on the ground and dissing it verbally to the press is a violation, and yeah, they should have taken it from him. Besides. He *SAID* he didn’t want it, haha.
The other thing is that there are SO MANY PEOPLE that didn’t make the games at all and SO MANY PEOPLE that would LOVE to be able to say they got ANY medal at all in the Olympics that he basically trashed an accomplishment greater than all the rest of those people achieved this year. If the governing body had allowed him to disrespect so many people’s hard work and effort without repercussions, they would have opened the door to even more egregiously ridiculous behavior in the future.
Wait, I have to choose between you or Pam? My brain!
Congrats!
They should not take away his medal. They should stuff it up his egotistical, obnoxious ass.
When I first read the story, I was disgusted. Aside from being in completely bad form and unsportsmanlike behavior, this is the Olympics and a certain standard of behavior is expected. Bad form, and it taints what should be a special moment. So I was SO glad to hear that the IOC had taken his medal. No more than he deserves.
My understanding of Ara and the incident was, he won the silver 4 years ago, but dedicated his life to winning the gold. He gets into a match and loses a decision that some feel was shaky.. He has every right to be upset. I’d be pissed too if I worked everyday toward a goal and it was taken away from him by something subjective like judge scoring.
I mean seriously, dude’s had to spend how much of his life grappling with sweaty half naked dudes….grunting on each other….grabbing each other in the manly spirit of competition. I’d be pissed like a dude who found out his fat fingered proctologist wasn’t a real doctor…..
No, he should not get that medal!I understand Ara’s emotions as I often experience them on a smaller scale (I want an A on that chemistry exam, not a damn B!). However, I can’t condone this type of behavior. This wasn’t some private swimming competition, it was the OLYMPICS! Like Billc said, you’re representing a country, not just your own personal skill. There is a time and place for everything and the worldwide stage isn’t it. Just like i don’t have a BF in front of my professor, he should have graciously had his hissy fit somewhere else.
can he say…… ” decaf….” he should be stripped of his Starbucks card and be made to watch the South Park ” Come…. Sail Away ” bit until he comes…to his
senses…..
lamesabassman……. and … no more Red Bull….
He behaved like a spoiled child. There are many who lost by decisions and seconds, and they too have dedicated years of their lives to attempt to win a gold medal. The medal was rightfully stripped.
I guess it boils down to “Does unsportsmanlike conduct behoove the decision?” because he’s certainly that. I’d say that’s as much a part of competing as the actual physical achievement. Otherwise we’d just have a gorilla wrestle.
Yeah, fair strip. If you can’t respect the refs, the officials, the venue and the fact that someone else is better than you, go home. He has the right to be upset about not getting the gold, and even to decline the medal, but basically, he’s being a spoiled brat that somebody beat him.
@ Derrick: That was great; you’re hilarious!!! :)
@ bill c.: Very good points all around!
@ Howard: Noooooo, you can have us BOTH. :) I think we’re nominated in different categories, so you totally don’t have to choose one or the other — pick both! :)
@ Baba Doodlius: Funny!! :)
@ ladimcbeth: I couldn’t agree with you more.
@ dkzone: Yeah, I’d totally be pissed, too. Not sure I would’ve freaked out like he did. Who knows? He probably got wrapped up in the moment and let his anger get the best of him — something I can totally relate to. At the same time, I still think his behavior was inappropriate.
@ Jamzy: Yeah, Bill’s point was brilliant, wasn’t it? :)
@ lamesabassman: :)
@ kali: Ditto what I said to ladimcbeth. I soooo agree. :)
I think he should be fined for his behavior, but he did earn the medal through hard work so I think he should keep it. It’s good that he didn’t want to accept defeat but not to the point when he went all 5 year old on us and threw a temper-tantrum.
I’ve watching this match 6 times, just so you don’t have to. And I can tell you that it wasn’t a just “shaky” decision, it was a number of terrible decisions by the judges, and Ara had every right to be upset. I think we can all relate to losing, and the feelings associated with it. If it’s a fair loss, it takes the edge of, but this guy was robbed of silver or potentially even gold by terrible judging.
That said, is his action acceptable? If he had taken the bronze medal it would have suggested that he accepted the judging that took place during the competition; and for him I don’t think that was an option, it’s his last competition and he has nothing to lose and any person who follows wrestling knows of some of the odd decisions made by the judges. I think his behaviour was not acceptable, but I don’t know how I would have reacted in a similar situation after equally bad judging.
Is the stripping of the medal by the IOC also acceptable? Probably. But the action was taken without examining the match or the judging. They’re only going to do that now that they’ve stripped his medal. Seems a bit roundabout to me.
As a final note, perhaps some of the selective reporting that has taken place with this situation needs to be examined. An Olympic athlete needs to be placed in an extreme situation to even consider doing something like this, and in this case, I think he probably made a statement that few career wrestlers can afford to make.
Ha! That’s what he gets. If you choose to throw a temper tantrum in public sometimes you are allowed to get your way for the sake of continued embarrassment and sometimes you get your ass whooped. I think the taking away of his earned medal was quite the ass whooping, lol.
Regarding the Swedish wresteler Abrahamian, he was pissed off cause they keep changing the rules of Greco-Roman wrestling and he got points against him while not wrestling (in the interval) it looked like a fixed match, sorry, I liked his protest cause it might get them to wake up he’s considered by far the best wrestler in Greco-Roman wrestling and he trained for it for 4 years.
@ Precina: You said, “It’s good that he didn’t want to accept defeat but not to the point when he went all 5 year old on us and threw a temper-tantrum.” Very nicely stated!
@ Jeremy: I’m not a huge fan of figure skating, but I have a friend who is. Apparently something similar went down in that sport several years ago and they found out a bunch of the judges had been bribed or something like that. Crazy stuff. Seeeee, that’s why I stick to soccer. Good, pure fun with 0% drama. ;)
@ Ms. Bar B: :)
@ Poul Davidsen: You said, “it looked like a fixed match.” It very well could’ve been. This wouldn’t be the first time something like that went down in sports …