Artur Aleksanyan Blasts Referees Following Gold Medal Match Loss To Musa Evloev: ‘You Need To Be From Russia To Win’

Posted on August 4, 2021 by Andre Khatchaturian One comment

Artur Aleksanyan isn’t blaming his injured left leg for his gold medal match — he is pointing his fingers at the referees.

The 2016 Olympic Greco-Roman gold medalist and 2020 Olympic silver medalist lost to the Russian Olympic Committee’s Musa Evloev in the gold medal match on Tuesday, 5-1, and was very vocal about the officiating in the match after the fight.

“Everyone saw everything. I don’t know how much you can take. Just watch the contest back, everything will be clear,” Aleskanyan told Russian outlet TASS following the match.

When asked for an interview by Russian TV, Aleksanyan replied bluntly, “You need to be from Russia to win.”

Aleksanyan suffered a leg injury in his semifinal win and was visibly in pain during the gold medal match. He appeared to have difficulty planting his leg during many portions of the match. However, when Evloev earned a pair of points on Aleksanyan, the Armenian gestured towards the referee complaining about the scoring.

In the end, Evloev came away with the win and Aleksanyan earned the silver. Aleksanyan refused to wear the medal around his neck during the medal ceremony. He did, however, become the first Olympian representing Armenia to win a gold, silver and bronze in his Olympic career.