Topic: Interesting article from the past

[Shaun Le Conte]

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE1DA153DF930A3575BC0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

BARCELONA: Weight Lifting; Medalist's Ban Is A Tangled Tale
By FILIP BONDY,
Published: August 3, 1992
Ibragim Samadov of the Unified Team has been banished indefinitely from the Olympic Games, and all future weight-lifting competition, because of a tantrum, a missing fax and the use of less-than-formal stationery by his federation.

The severe penalty, and the tangled tale of bruised feelings, evolved from an unseemly display Friday on the medal stand. Samadov, who finished third in the light-heavyweight division, hurled his bronze medal to the floor, and stormed off the stage during the awards ceremony. When the Greek champion, Pyrros Dimas, carried the medal back to Samadov, the 24-year-old resident of Grozny again tossed it to the ground.

Today, the International Olympic Committee officially announced that Samadov had lost his medal in the 181.5-pound division and was banished from the Barcelona Olympics. Meanwhile, officials from the International Weightlifting Federation and the Unified Team were still trying to find a compromise that might allow Samadov to resume his athletic career after the Barcelona flame is doused.

See the rest of the article at the NY Times