Minguzzi wins 84kg G-R title

By the Associated Press

Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 5:46 AM ET

BEIJING (AP) – Andrea Minguzzi did a backflip, hoisted his coach and hauled him to the middle of the mat, wrapped himself in the Italian flag and ran a victory lap around the arena.

A happy wrestling gold-medal winner, obviously. A can’t-quite-believe-it winner who came out of nowhere to steal away with wrestling’s most coveted prize when there was no previous hint he could do so.

Minguzzi finished 45th, 18th, 17th, 28th and 27th in his previous five world championship tournaments. That didn’t prevent him from becoming Italy’s first Olympic wrestling champion in 20 years by defeating Zoltan Fodor of Hungary in the 84-kilogram finals Thursday.

Minguzzi certainly couldn’t hide his delight, hugging and kissing the flower girls on the medal stand, biting into his gold medal and playing to the crowd, which reveled in his enthusiasm.

“To me, it is worth the world,” Minguzzi said. “I am ecstatic right now. I couldn’t be happier.”

One never could tell, except that he seemed willing to hug all 5,000 or so spectators in the China Agriculture University gymnasium if he could.

Fodor, also an unlikely finalist, was eighth in the world last year and, only three years ago, was 30th in the world juniors.

The bronze medals were won by Nazmi Avluca of Turkey and Sweden’s Ara Abrahamian, the silver medalist in Athens who dropped a disputed decision to Minguzzi in the semifinals, then dropped his medal on the mat in protest.

Fodor won the first period of the gold-medal match 1-1 on tiebreaker, but Minguzzi won the second by the same score before throwing Fodor in the third to win 4-0 and finish off the day of his life.

In order, the 26-year-old Italian policeman (*HOT*):

-Upset 2004 gold medalist Aleksey Mishin, last year’s world champion, in what may go down as one of the biggest shockers in Olympic wrestling. Mishin is a four-time European champion who was in control after winning the second period 3-0, only to lose 2-1 in the third.

-Turned a disputed point into a semifinals surprise – there’s that word again – against Abrahamian.  Swedish coach Leo Myllar used words much stronger than disputed.

“It’s all politics, and it’s all corrupt,” he said.

In the oft-mysterious world of international wrestling, in which the rules are quirky and can be interpreted widely, sometimes it’s all in the game.

After he took the bronze – but not for long – two-time former world champion Abrahamian said, “I don’t care about this medal. I wanted gold. This will be my last match. I wanted to take gold, so I consider this Olympics a failure.”

(*read: spoiled sport*)

During the medal ceremony, Abrahamian took the bronze from around his neck and, in disgust, dropped it on the mat as he walked away.

Abrahamian had to be restrained from going after the matside officials following his loss to Minguzzi and, storming away from the mixed zone where interviews are conducted, slammed a door to the dressing rooms so hard it shook an entire wall. He weighed whether to skip the bronze medal match, only to have friends talk him into competing.

Abrahamian’s unhappiness doesn’t take away from Minguzzi’s accomplishment, which might have prevented Russia from winning its fourth Greco-Roman gold in Beijing.

Minguzzi’s golden day proved that even a relatively obscure wrestler – despite his third-place finish in this year’s European championships – can get hot and win the Olympics, especially with all matches in a weight class now wrestled in one day.

Before Minguzzi, the last Italian to win an Olympic wrestling gold was Vincenzo Maenza, who won at 48 kg in 1984 and 1988.

Maybe that proved some inspiration as Minguzzi’s father, himself a former wrestler, taught him the sport from an early age.

“It’s the only sport I’ve ever practiced,” he said.

That’s only because hugging isn’t an Olympic sport.

(*Uh.  Yeah.  I could post a comment here, but, you know…there’s really no point by now.  I will find him and challenge him to a HUG-OFF!! ;P)

Brad Vering, last year’s world silver medalist from the United States, lost to Denis Forov of Armenia in the round of 16 and did not medal. He plans to retire.

“It doesn’t end up the way I wanted it to end up, but I’m not going to let my whole career just ride on one loss in the Olympic Games,” said Vering, a former NCAA champion at Nebraska.