Ara Abrahamian

About Ara Abrahamian

Ara Abrahamian (born July 25, 1975 in Leninakan, Armenian SSR) is a Swedish wrestler of Armenian descent, who has won two world championships and a silver and a bronze medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics respectively.

Abrahamian's participation in the 2004 Summer Olympics was planned to mark the end of his career, and he was determined to bring home the gold medal. After losing the prolonged final with Alexei Michine of Russia, Abrahamian wrote on his homepage: "The final ended 1-1. That means losing, in case you meet a Russian."

Following a loss in the semi finals of the 2008 Summer Olympics to the eventual winner Andrea Minguzzi of Italy, he and the Swedish coach Leo Mylläri disputed the judges' ruling and Abrahamian had to be restrained by teammates. Mylläri accused the judges of being corrupt. Abrahamian returned to win his bronze match, but during the medal ceremony he stepped off the podium, laid down his bronze medal in the center of the mat and declared that he was retiring from the sport saying, "I don't care about this medal. I wanted gold."