Mélonin Noumonvi

French wrestler

Born

10 October 1982, Paris

Citizenship

France

Sport

amateur wrestling

Occupation

amateur wrestler

Height

187 cm (6 ft 2 in)

Weight

84 kg (185 lb)

Mélonin Noumonvi (born 10 October 1982 in Paris) is a French Greco-Roman (under 84 kg) wrestler.

At the Beijing 2008 Olympics, he lost to the eventual champion Andrea Minguzzi of Italy in the round of 16 and lost the bronze medal bout to Sweden's Ara Abrahamian. However, after Abrahamian refused to take home the bronze medal, he decided to take it. However, the IOC would not allow him that medal, as it was not affected by Abrahamian's tantrum. Furious, Noumonvi began to attack the IOC, but was stopped by security. He was eventually banned from wrestling for a year, but as of 2010, his ban has been lifted. At the London 2012 Olympics, he controversially lost his quarter-final bout to Egypt's Karam Gaber. Two seconds from the end of the third period of that bout, he appeared to manage to take down his opponent. The referees validated the takedown but the judge overruled it. He subsequently lost the bronze medal bout to Poland's Damian Janikowski.

Competitions

External links

• Wikipedia
• Wikidata

Facts from Wikidata Q963461 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.