This is the best article I found on Andrei Aramnau, a weightlifter in the 105kg weight class, not partaking in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
“I was in great shape, but for whatever reason my coach had asked me to compete in a meaningless competition, where I first suffered the injury,”
There he goes again, throwing his coach under the bus. The 24 year old Aramnau didn’t learn any humility when he won his Olympic gold medal as a 20 year old at the 2008 Beijing games; he’s always been a dickhead.
It started with drunk driving. I’ll never understand why financially sound athletes bother to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking; Aramnau would probably make friends with NFL players. It would be wise to know ‘can you refuse a breathalyzer?’ if you were stopped at a dui checkpoint.
Olympic champion Aramnau gets ban for drinking
Olympic Champion Andrei Aramnau of Belarus was handed a two-year suspended ban from competition on Friday after driving while intoxicated for the second time in less than three months.
The 20-year-old, who won gold in Beijing by breaking several world records in the 105kg weight class, was first caught driving drunk in December before he repeated the offence last month, just a day after receiving keys for a new apartment.
Belarus Sports Minister Alexander Grigorov, who headed the disciplinary hearing, told Reuters: “The Olympic success obviously went to his head. He is young and he couldn’t handle it in a right way. We gave him a suspended sentence because we didn’t want to lose him as an athlete.”
Aramnau, who also faces criminal charges for being a repeat offender, was stripped of a presidential monthly stipend worth more than $5,000.
However, Grigorov said Aramnau, who won his first world title in 2007 as a 19-year-old, could be given a second chance.
“If he retains the world title this year, he would get the stipend back,” Grigorov said. (source)
What they leave out is how he defended himself in this interview (translate with Chrome). When asked about the marijuana incident, he deflects it, says he had lots of stress and nerves as a result of the Belarus athletic governing body. Oh, that’s right, a champion goes and looks to substance abuse — regardless of the kind (he claimed he didn’t know there was weed in it) — to fix his problems.
And then when they brought up the drunk driving citations, of which he had several, he claimed that because he could lift several tons of tonnage in his workouts that he could handle it. Sorry, just because you’re strong doesn’t mean alcohol doesn’t effect you, and just because there are murals of you in the city doesn’t mean the law doesn’t apply to you. Then he goes onto claim that beer has significant recovery agents, as if that’s the reason he was drinking it to begin with. Can you believe this fucking guy? That’s either him continuing to deflect blame or he’s a god damn idiot. Either way it’s unacceptable.
I’ve never hidden the fact that I don’t like Aramnau, and it’s not because I’ve been a fan of Klokov for 4 years. It’s because Aramnau is always making excuses. He may train hard in the gym, as evidenced by his world records and gold medal, but he doesn’t do the things outside of the gym that make him admirable. You never hear these stories about Klokov because he conducts his life to be the greatest he can be. That much is apparent by his physique; he’s trying to get the most musculature for his weight class while Aramnau is a doughy beer drinker. Sure, he’s a doughy beer drinker with a gold medal while Klokov only has a silver, but that lack of effort in life means something to me.
I hate Aramnau’s attitude. He’s still young, but all of the best athletes in the world are young. What makes him so special that he can be a fucking dick head and get away with it? Nothing. He’s whiny, he deflects blame to others, and he’s an asshole. I’m happy that he’s not in the Olympics, because he hasn’t lived his life the past four years to deserve it.
More videos of Aramnau can be found here.
With Aramnau out, does that mean (barring a freak occurrence) that Klokov is a shoe-in for Gold? Or is there somebody else out there who can give him a legit challenge?
Akkaev beat Klokov for the gold in November at the 2011 World Championships. He has been training very solidly and has apparently improved his CJ, which was his supposed weakness. I think it’ll be a titanic battle. There are some others that may push them as well.
So – we will find out here:
Monday, August 6
4:45P – 5:15P
The men’s 105kg final.
Setting my DVR now, since I will be at work while this is being aired.
say it brother.
I read a similar article yesterday through google news and the dude just comes off like a cockface.
Not that I disagree with your view on him, but wouldn’t you rather him have competed so Klokov would have to have beaten him to win gold? Whoever wins gold now will have the “But they didn’t beat Aramnau” statement coming from detractors.
That’s assuming Aramnau even shows up to another Olympic games. When people did well in the 1984 Olympics, we don’t look back and automatically say, “Well, the Russians weren’t there.” Gold medal is a gold medal.
Barring this injury though he would have been there as the reigning gold medalist, and only 24 years old so still in his prime. I won’t hold it against whoever wins the gold, but some could say it would leave the question of “Would they have beaten Aramnau?”. And since he’s so hated by you, wouldn’t it have been even sweeter to see Klokov beat him?
Exactly what I thought: too bad he won’t be there to be beaten and humiliated by Klokov and Akkaev.
Sure, but I’m surprised you are playing the “What if?” game, Paul. Why don’t you step back to reality.
I am in reality. Just saying it’ll be annoying when someone says “But Aramnau didn’t compete” anytime the 2012 105kg gold medalist is mentioned. I deal with it with fellow Celtics fans who constantly say they would have beaten the heat if Avery Bradley were healthy. Well, he wasn’t, that’s sport. Just pointing out the downside of him not competing will be people who use it to discredit whoever wins gold.
I’m sorry, let’s stop fighting. I just want you to love me.
“I’ll never understand why financially sound athletes bother to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking.”
THIS. THIS SO MUCH. The same goes for successful actors, musicians, and politicians.
Apparently he has a drinking problem.
And is an idiot in addition to being an asshole.
“In Soviet Russia, car drives you.”
this is good
If Klokov lifts more than 200kg in the snatch and 236kg in clean and jerk it dose not matter if he’s there or not …imo. Good post Justin. Klokov truly embodies the ethical athlete as far as I can see from here in the US.
That’s assuming Aramnau wouldn’t have improved at all. I don’t think he would have done significantly more, but it would have probably been a good battle.
Ethical if you forget about the steroid thing.
As long as you test clean on game day…there is no foul ! lol.
Oh how I wish beer did have recovery agents though…
Homebrewed beer is unfiltered and thus retains a lot of B vitamins from the yeast sediment…SO since B vitamins aid in water retention & recovery, then mebbe he has a point? He’s still an asshat, though…
(Been brewing my own for 7 years, btw)
+1 for home brew. My closet brewery was established in 2008.
Not only does he lack the musculature of Klokov, he’s also ugly as hell to look at. Klokov (and to an extent Akkaev) look like the manliest of men, both in their faces and their physiques. Aramnau just looks fat and ugly. I do kind of wish he had competed if only to bump up the awesomeness of that weight class.
There are some other good competitors. Marcin Dolega’s qualifying total was 430. There are three other lifters not named Klokov/Akkaev/Aramnau that have qualifying totals of over 420.
Meh… I am a huge aramnau fan because I am a fan of doughy athletes in general. I dont think he was pushed to his max at beijing and barring this bullshit I think we will see him come back even stronger for the next olympics or at least world championships.
By the way, I think now dolega will really have a good chance to take gold
i remember reading about this douchebag
The punishment for repeated drunk driving should be on par with involuntary manslaughter, since it is pretty much an equivalent offense, except the drunk driver just got lucky that he didn’t kill anyone.
Also, every time I watch one of these MDUSA training sessions I feel like I’m watching a new Saw movie series sequal with Glenn’s booming voice in the background making comments. “I want you to make a choice…listen carefully there are rules…”
true true…Jon North is an animal!
I predict a huge comeback in 2016, followed by an unexplainable exit from the platform before the 3rd clean and jerk, never to be seen again, because the press will never leave him alone.
Aus only 105+ competitor Damon Kelly got 9th in Beijing. Seem to be a good guy, trains while working a full time job, glad he’s representing rather than some jumped up drover.
Love him or hate him, Armanau is an incredible lifter.
His technical proficiency, speed, positions, timing, power, etc. are all phenomenal. Plus he’s all inner focus on the platform. Knows exactly what he needs to do, blocks out the rest of the damn world, and f**king executes. No wasted energy, %100 goes into the lift.
He is one of my favourite lifters to watch.
Personally, I DGAF what he’s like off the platform.
This isn’t reality TV… if I’m watching and appreciating an athletic event; I don’t care what colour the competitor’s shit is,
I just want to see amazing athletic feats.
I also DGAF if he looks like a tub of shit or the Austrian Oak himself. It’s an athletic contest, not a beauty pageant.
Then again, it’s all personal preference.
It’s on TV for entertainment, so people can appreciate whichever aspects they want.
Anyway, shitty that Aramnau’s out. Makes the 105’s a little less exciting… but only by a tiny tiny tiny bit…
At least Ilin’s lifting!
F**kin love that guy.
This man is a real-life Kenny Powers
Relevant: http://i.imgur.com/d6mqr.gif
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Drunk drivers are “assholes” regardless of what they can or can’t do in and out of a gym.