Wrestler Migran Arutyunyan Wins Armenia’s Second Silver Medal at Rio 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (A.W.)—Armenia’s Migran Arutyunyan (b. 1989) won Armenia’s second silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after falling to Davor Štefanek of Serbia in the Greco-Roman Wrestling 66 kg final on Aug. 16.

Arutyunyan during his sem-final match (Photo: USA Today Sports)
Arutyunyan during his sem-final match (Photo: USA Today Sports)

Arutyunyan defeated the reigning 71 kg world champion, Azerbaijan’s Rasul Chunayev, 4-1 in the semifinal match to move onto the final.

Simon Martirosyan (b. 1997) became Armenia’s first medal winner at the 2016 Olympic Games, after winning a silver in men’s 105 kg weightlifting on Aug. 15. Martirosyan lifted a total of 417 kg, and placed second only to Ruslan Nurudinov of Uzbekistan, who set an Olympic record with a total weight of 431 kg.

5 Comments

  1. I am really disappointed about the unfair treatment towards Migran Arutyunyan. He was obviously the best in the battle with the serb sportsman. A fact of discrimination is quite clear, here. His victory of the golden medal was stolen by the judges. As a result Migran has decided to leave the sports. It is too bad for the sports, in general. The image of fair competition in the olympics is ruined by the bad management of the competition.Shame.Alas.

  2. Arutyunyan was 100% robbed in the gold medal match. Armenians all over the world need to know this and celebrate him as if he won the gold medal. He wrestled an amazing tournament destroying the first two opponents, decisively beat the reigning Azeri world champ in the semifinals, and in the eyes of the crowd, the commentators, any wrestler watching, and I’ll bet the Serbian opponent too, was the best wrestler that day and should have been on top of the podium with gold around his neck.

    In international wrestling, the winner of a match ending in a tie goes to the wrestler scoring the last point. This rule is intended to discourage a wrestler that scores early from stalling the remaining of the match. The rule is understanable but should NEVER have been applied here. Arutyunyan scored a legitimate point early in the match by forcing the Serbian out of bounds taking a 1-0 lead. Despite wrestling aggressively – he was moving forward the entire match and attempted several shots, the referee surprisingly called Arutyunyan for passivity with a little more than minute left in the match tying the score at 1-1. This effectively GAVE the match and the gold medal to the Serb. The Serb then stalled (did not attempt a single offensive move) for the remainder of the match that ended in a 1-1 tie.

    Arutyunyan did not give up a single point in the match, scored his point legitimately, and was not given a point despite his opponent stalling for the last minute of the match. This was recognized by the commentators, the fans, and any wrestler with an ounce of objectivity watching. I hope he returns in 2020 because he has the potential to dominate at the next games like Alekskanyan did yesterday – I hope he doesn’t retire. In the meantime, the Armenian nation should celebrate him as a gold medalist! He deserves that much.

  3. This shows that very little integrity is left in this world these days. Every single competition that is based on referees’ division is rigged. Shame on the judges for giving away the gold medal to the Serb athlete.

  4. He was “much better” and scored just one point!?! After winning his point, Mygran didn’t try to score one more, he avoid battle and received cautions. After he was punished by point to opponent, his opponent did as Mygran before. Totally, it was bad and boring performance by both wrestlers. In such circumstances, no one deserved to win. One had to, and it was our wrestler. But, behaviour of Armenian wrestler during ceremony was completely unacceptable and furthermore shame for wrestling.
    Here in Serbia, people do like and support brave Armenian people.
    Regards from Belgrade.

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