Let us congratulate judoka Tuvshinbayar Naidan for winning the first ever gold medal for Mongolia. It is a historic achievement for Tuvshinbayar and for Mongolia which has won a total of 15 silver and bronze Olympic medals in the past.

With Naidan’s victory, it would be mission accomplished for the Mongolian Olympic team which targeted two medals when it arrived in Beijing. The other medalist is Otryad Gundegmaa who won a silver medal in shooting [women's 25m pistol].

Photo source: beijing2008

This is apparently how Italian wrestler Andrea Minguzzi won his gold medal. Angry Olympian man and medal thrower, Ara Abrahamian, however believes that the medal belongs to him and not to this flag-waving Italian.

Related:
Introducing Ara Abrahamian: The Angry Olympian Man

Photo credit: AP via thestar and beijing2008

Is Swedish Ara Abrahamian a sore loser or did the judges rob him of a medal better than bronze? From reuters:

Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw down his Olympic bronze medal in protest on Thursday after his bid for greco-roman gold was ended by a decision denounced by the Swedish coach as “politics”.

Abrahamian took the bronze from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the wrestling mat then walked off.

“I don’t care about this medal. I wanted gold,” he said.

[Read more →]

North Korean weightlifter Pak Hyon Suk proved to be the strongest in the women’s 63kg weightlifting competition and bagged the first gold medal for North Korea.

Photo credit: Paul Gilham via Beijing2008

Judo gold medalist Elnur Mammadli of Azerbaijan should be our ultimate Olympic idol. Why? Because he did everything we have been monitoring in this blog, you know, the grand old traditions of Olympic medal biting, Olympic flag waving, and Olympic arms raising. He is our three-in-one gold medalist. Go Elnur!

By the way, for those of you interested about how much money Olympians make, Elnur will be receiving AZN 100,000 and NOC–AZN 50,000 from the Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee as a reward for his gold medal victory. The amount should be about US$ 123,777 if my calculation is correct.
Photo source: beijing 2008