|
| Event type

Light-Heavyweight, Greco-Roman (≤84 kilograms), Men

Date14 August 2008
StatusOlympic
LocationZhongguo Nongye Daxue Tiyuguan, Beijing
Participants20 from 20 countries
FormatSingle elimination tournament. Competitors losing to the finalists entered repechage tournament for bronze medals.

The favorite was Aleksey Mishin of Russia, the 2004 Olympic and 2007 World Champion. In a huge upset, he was defeated in the quarters by Italy’s Andrea Minguzzi, who had placed only 45th at the 2007 Worlds, but had won bronze medals at the 2007-08 Europeans. Minguzzi then defeated Swede Ara Abrahamian, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, in the semi-finals. The final matched Minguzzi against Hungarian Zoltán Fodor, who was even less well-known than Minguzzi. They split the first two periods but Minguzzi won the third period to take the gold medal, the first by an Italian in Olympic wrestling since 1988 (Vincenzo Maenza).

Abrahamian went through the losers’ bracket to seemingly win a bronze medal, but he was not happy with the result, nor the judging in his semi loss to Minguzzi. The Sweden team protested that result, but that protest was not allowed. During the medal ceremony, Abrahamian threw his medal to the mat and stormed out in protest of the decision. He was stripped of his medal and disqualified, although The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later ruled that FILA should have allowed Abrahamian’s appeal. He had been banned from wrestling for two years by FILA but that ban was annulled, however, the bronze medal was not reinstated by FILA. No second bronze medal was awarded after Abrahamian’s disqualification.

PosWrestlerNOC
1Andrea MinguzziITAGold
2Zoltán FodorHUNSilver
=3Nazmi AvlucaTURBronze
=5Ma SanyiCHN
=5Mélonin NoumonviFRA
7Denis ForovARM
8Şalva QadabadzeAZE
9Aleksey MishinRUS
10Yunior EstradaCUB
11Saman TahmasebiIRI
12Brad VeringUSA
13Kim Jung-SubKOR
14Oleksandr DarahanUKR
15Shingo MatsumotoJPN
=16Badri KhasaiaGEO
=16Artur MichalkiewiczPOL
=16Andrey SamokhinKAZ
19Attila BátkySVK
20Haykel AchouriTUN
ACAra AbrahamianSWE1

Round One (14 August 2008)

Winner of each match advanced to round two. Losers to eventual finalists advanced to repêchage round one.

Match #1 Oleksandr DarahanUKR
Match #2 Saman TahmasebiIRI
Match #3 Nazmi AvlucaTUR
Match #4 Badri KhasaiaGEO
Match #5 Şalva QadabadzeAZE
Match #6 Haykel AchouriTUN
Match #7 Ma SanyiCHN
Match #8 Zoltán FodorHUN
Match #9 Mélonin NoumonviFRA
Match #10 Andrea MinguzziITA
Match #11 Andrey SamokhinKAZ
Match #12 Aleksey MishinRUS
Match #13 Denis ForovARM Shingo MatsumotoJPN
Match #14 Brad VeringUSA Artur MichalkiewiczPOL
Match #15 Ara AbrahamianSWE Kim Jung-SubKOR
Match #16 Yunior EstradaCUB Attila BátkySVK

Round Two (14 August 2008)

Winner of each match advanced to quarter-finals. Losers to eventual finalists advanced to repêchage round one.

Match #1 Saman TahmasebiIRI Oleksandr DarahanUKR
Match #2 Nazmi AvlucaTUR Badri KhasaiaGEO
Match #3 Şalva QadabadzeAZE Haykel AchouriTUN
Match #4 Zoltán FodorHUN Ma SanyiCHN
Match #5 Andrea MinguzziITA Mélonin NoumonviFRA
Match #6 Aleksey MishinRUS Andrey SamokhinKAZ
Match #7 Denis ForovARM Brad VeringUSA
Match #8 Ara AbrahamianSWE Yunior EstradaCUB

Quarter-finals (14 August 2008)

Winner of each match advanced to semi-finals. Losers to eventual finalists advanced to repêchage round two.

Match #1 Nazmi AvlucaTUR Saman TahmasebiIRI
Match #2 Zoltán FodorHUN Şalva QadabadzeAZE
Match #3 Andrea MinguzziITA Aleksey MishinRUS
Match #4 Ara AbrahamianSWE Denis ForovARM

Semi-finals (14 August 2008)

Winner of each match advanced to final. Losers advanced to repêchage final.

Match #1 Zoltán FodorHUN Nazmi AvlucaTUR
Match #2 Andrea MinguzziITA Ara AbrahamianSWE

Repêchage Round One (14 August 2008)

Winner of each match advanced to repêchage round two.

Match #1 Ma SanyiCHN
Match #2 Mélonin NoumonviFRA

Repêchage Round Two (14 August 2008)

Winner of each match advanced to repêchage final.

Match #1 Ma SanyiCHN Şalva QadabadzeAZE
Match #2 Mélonin NoumonviFRA Aleksey MishinRUS

Repêchage Final (14 August 2008)

Match #1 Nazmi AvlucaTUR Ma SanyiCHN
Match #2 Ara AbrahamianSWE Mélonin NoumonviFRA

Final (14 August 2008)

Match 1/2 Andrea MinguzziITA Zoltán FodorHUN