Brawl breaks out at wrestling match
ATHENS — Americans Joe Williams and Daniel Cormier went down hard on Sunday afternoon, failing to win a medal on a bizarre and violent day that brought more scorn than respect for freestyle wrestling.
Buvaysa Saytiev, the Russian Federation’s gold medalist at 163 pounds, and Murat Gaidarov of Belarus exchanged words and then fists after their controversial quarterfinal match, a free-swinging donnybrook that involved spectators and coaches at Ano Liossia, the Olympic wrestling venue. It delayed the competition for almost 10 minutes.
The bout between two bitter rivals ended after six seconds of added time. Saytiev scored the winning point when the Belarussian received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct. Gaidarov, who did not wait around for the traditional raising of the winner’s hand, had to be restrained from attacking the judges.
They left the mat and started jawing and then flailing wildly as their respective entourages got involved. Several of the U.S. contingent helped break up the fight, which lasted several minutes.
Both the Russian and Belarus delegations were issued warnings, and both athletes and federations face the possibility of sanctions and a minimum fine of $10,000.
Saytiev went on to win the gold medal, his second after Atlanta in 1996. Gaidorov was supposed to wrestle Williams for the fifth-place match. But he never made it to the mat, apparently too beat up from injuries suffered in the brawl.
Williams was heartsick after he lost his quarterfinal match, 3-2, in overtime to Kazakhstan’s Gennadiy Laliyev. But he figured he would at least get some redemption in the fifth-place match against Gaidarov. It never came. He won by disqualification.
“This was just a bad day for me,” said Williams, a three-time NCAA champion at Iowa. “I wish I could have performed better.”