On the final day of the 2016 Olympic Games, one of the head coaches for the Mongolia wrestling team stripped down on the mat after he disagreed with the officiating of the bronze medal match.
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Ganzorigiin, leading by seven points to six, taunted his opponent by dancing around him in the last 18 seconds and was then carried around the ring in triumph by one of his coaches. “The Mongolian wrestler won 7-6 and he lost because of this (judges’ decision)”.
As the judges attempted to wave them off, the two coaches stripped down in protest – one removing his shirt, and the other removing both his shirt and trousers, leaving on only his underwear.
With the crowd erupting, one of them then took off his track trousers and remonstrated with the judges wearing nothing but a pair of trunks.
After the Mongolian coaches challenged the decision, the judges said it could not be challenged.
It wasn’t so much the celebration that cost Mongolia the bronze medal, but the act of “failing to engage”, which is known in wrestling passivity, resulting in a point for the opponent. And now? No medal. Security was brought in as the crowd started cheering “MONGOLIA! Only [a few] Mongolian athletes come here”.
“The referees are no good”, Bayaraa told USA TODAY.
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With the score level at 7-7, Navruzov was then awarded the victory by virtue of earning the last point, and he began celebrating with his coaches. ‘One hundred percent for Mongolia’.
