By DPA,
Lausanne : The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said that a Swedish wrestler would not get back a medal he won last year at the Beijing Olympics.
Ara Abrahamian, who won a bronze medal in the middleweight Greco-Roman wrestling competition in Beijing, caused a scandal at the victory ceremony when he took off his medal and placed it on the floor and walked away from the ceremony, which was still in progress.
The Swede, who won a silver medal in Athens in 2004, claimed he had been cheated in his semi-final loss against Andrea Minguzzi.
“I don’t care about this medal. I think the semi-final shows that (the ruling body) FILA does not play fair. I didn’t deserve to lose. The system is corrupt,” he said after the ceremony.
Abrahamian and the National Olympic Committee of Sweden (SOC) appealed against the decision of the International Olympic Committee to disqualify the wrestler, asking that he be reinstated and that the medal be returned to him.
In a statement CAS said Monday that they had dismissed the appeal.
“CAS confirmed that the behaviour of the athlete at the medal ceremony was in breach of the Olympic Charter and of the IOC Protocol Guide.
“Such behaviour was not justified, even though the athlete had the personal conviction that several sporting decisions related to his semi-final at the Olympic Games were not correct.
“CAS concluded that the decision of the IOC Executive Board was not disproportionate in the circumstances,” CAS said.