Referee Decisions Were Unjust, We Must Appeal and Obtain Arthur Aleksanyan's Gold Medal, Says Former Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport

According to the "Zhoghovurd" newspaper, the most shocking outcome for Armenian sports fans at the Olympic Games was the silver medal won by legendary Arthur Aleksanyan, as the Armenian public was confident that he would undeniably secure a gold medal. However, it turns out there are serious issues; as a nation, we have again faced injustice and must fight for Arthur Aleksanyan to also receive a gold medal.

On this topic, "Zhoghovurd" spoke with former Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Grisha Tamrazyan, who was in Paris following the Olympic Games.

– Mr. Tamrazyan, we noticed you were in Paris cheering for our wrestlers participating in the Olympic Games. How do you assess the preparedness and participation of our athletes?

– I highly value our athletes’ preparedness; they all performed with dignity. Arthur Aleksanyan, in particular, demonstrated why he is the most decorated athlete in Armenia. He is also one of the most decorated wrestlers in the history of global wrestling. Only Lopez has five Olympic medals, Karelins has four, and Aleksanyan has four; this is an almost unparalleled achievement.

– What are your overall impressions of the Olympic Games?

– To be honest, my impressions are negative. In my view, the refereeing was not only unjust but disgraceful; it was unworthy of the Olympic Games.

– What do you mean, could you elaborate?

– During Aleksanyan's final match, the Iranian wrestler was clearly out of bounds with both feet, for which points should not have been awarded to him, and one point should have been given to Aleksanyan. As a result, the score would have been 2:1 in favor of Aleksanyan. Our coaches challenged that episode, but the appeal was rejected. This was a glaring example of biased refereeing directed against our athletes. By the way, this was not the only incident of unfair refereeing at this Olympic Games.