Weightlifting was introduced to Armenia in the late 1920s and became widely practiced after World War II. Today, it is one of the country's most popular sports. [1] The sport is regulated by the Armenian Weightlifting Federation. The first weightlifters from Soviet Armenia made successful appearances on the international stage in the 1970s. Vardan Militosyan won a silver at the 1976 Olympics, and later Yurik Vardanyan became an Olympic, World and European champion through the late 1970s and the early 1980s. Oksen Mirzoyan and Yurik Sarkisyan rose to top positions in the 1980s. After its independence from the Soviet Union, Armenia successfully held its weightlifting traditions and continues to be one of the strongest nations in Europe. In 2008, the Armenia team placed first at the European Championship. In the 2008 Summer Olympics Armenia won three bronze medals. Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan is Armenia's only world champion with his successful appearance in 2010.
Armenia's second largest city of Gyumri with a population of about 150,000, is well known for producing many prominent weightlifters, [2] such as World and European weightlifting champions Yurik Vardanyan, Israel Militosyan, Gevorg Davtyan, Tigran G. Martirosyan and Nazik Avdalyan. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Weightlifting is known in Armenian as either ծանրամարտtsanramart, composed of ծանր tsanr "heavy" and մարտ mart "fight" or ծանր աթլետիկա tsanr at'letika literally "heavy athletics" (via Russian тяжёлая атлетика). [8]
The origins of weight lifting trace back to ancient history, most notably Ancient Greece. Modern weightlifting, however, is relatively new and was mainly organized and institutionalized in Europe and North America in the late 19th century. The current International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) was established in 1920. Weightlifting has been in all Summer Olympic Games except 1900, 1908 and 1912. [9]
Weightlifting was introduced to Armenia in the first decade of Soviet rule in Armenia. In 1927, a weightlifting club was established in the Armenian Sport Committee. In 1928, the first weightlifting championship was held in Yerevan and the first Armenian weightlifters participated in the Transcacucasian and later in Soviet championship. In 1947, the first Armenian weightlifter competed in a European championship. [8] [10]
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was, by far, the strongest nation in the world in the sport of weightlifting [9] and Armenian athletes made a significant contribution to this. [11]
By 1979, there were 205 weightlifting clubs in Soviet Armenia with around 5,200 people training in them. [8] By the 1970s Armenian weightlifters began to play an important role in the Soviet Union's weightlifting program. The first Olympic medalist from the Armenian SSR was Vardan Militosyan, who won a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics. [12]
Yurik Vardanyan became the first weightlifter from Armenia to win a gold medal in weightlifting at the 1980 Summer Olympics. In a dominant performance, Vardanyan became the first ever light-heavyweight (82.5 kg) to lift a total of 400 kg in an official competition, shattering both the Olympic and world records. By contrast, middle-heavyweight gold medalist Peter Baczako (90 kg) totaled 377.5 kg and sub-heavyweight gold medalist Ota Zaremba (100 kg) totaled 395 kg. [13] Vardanyan set the division record for a final time at the 1984 Friendship Games, an alternative to the Soviet-boycotted 1984 Summer Olympics, lifting a total of 405 kg. Vardanyan's achievements have not been matched since, as the current light-heavyweight record for the now 85 kg light heavyweight category (not including records set before the weight limit change) is currently 394 kg, set by Andrei Rybakou at the 2008 Summer Olympics. [14] Vardanyan set 41 world records during his decorated career. [15] For his accomplishments, Vardanyan earned the title Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1977 and was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1985. In 1994 he was elected a member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame. [16]
To this day, Vardanyan is still seen as a hero in Armenia for his accomplishments in the sport of weightlifting. A stamp of Vardanyan was printed in 2010 in honor of him. [17]
Along with Vardanyan, other significant Armenian weightlifters of the 1980s included 1980 Olympic silver medalist Yurik Sarkisyan, who set 12 world records during his career, [18] and 1988 Olympic gold medalist Oksen Mirzoyan, who set also set 12 world records during his career. [19]
At the 1992 Summer Olympics, Israel Militosyan, who previously won a silver medal at the 1988 Olympics, won a gold medal in the same division. Militosyan is, to this day, the final Armenian to win an Olympic gold medal. [20] The 1992 Olympics signaled the end of Soviet weightlifting.
Armenia has so far set four world records in weightlifting, all in the snatch. Khachatur Kyapanaktsyan set two of them. Sergo Chakhoyan set another. Militosyan, who set a snatch world record twice in 1989 under the Soviet Union, set the record again in 1994 for Armenia. [21]
Aghvan Grigoryan, who became the first Armenian Olympian to bear the flag of Armenia at the Summer Olympics in 1996, was a weightlifter. Arsen Melikyan became the first Armenian weightlifter for the independent Armenia to win an Olympic medal, having won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. [22]
Year | Number |
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2005 [23] | |
2010 [24] | |
2021 [25] |
Armenian weightlifters were particularly successful in 2008. They came in first place at the 2008 European Weightlifting Championships and Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan, Gevorg Davtyan and Tigran Vardan Martirosyan all won bronze medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, making it the most decorated Olympics for Armenia to date. Nazik Avdalyan won a gold medal at the 2009 World Weightlifting Championships and became the first weightlifter from independent Armenia to win a gold medal at the World Weightlifting Championships. Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan also won a gold medal at the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships, becoming the first male weightlifter from independent Armenia to do so. Hripsime Khurshudyan became the first Armenian woman to win an Olympic medal at the Olympics, having won a bronze medal in weightlifting at the 2012 Summer Olympics. [26]
Oksen Mirzoyan later became the Head Coach of the Armenian national weightlifting team and is now the current Chairman of the Armenian Weightlifting Federation. [27]
Armenia's statistics agency recorded a downward trend in the 21st century in the number of people practicing weightlifting. In 2005 Armenia had over 2,500 weightlifters, which dropped to 1,700 by 2021. [23] [25]
The 2023 European Weightlifting Championships were held in Yerevan from 15 to 23 April 2023.
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Yurik Sarkisyan is a former Soviet Armenian weightlifter. He was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1982. In 2007, Yurik Sarkisyan included into the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame weightlifting.
Yuri Norayrovich Vardanyan was a Soviet Armenian weightlifter. Vardanyan won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world's first weightlifter to achieve a 400 kilogram total in the 82.5 kg weight category. During his career he set several world records. He trained at Lokomotiv in Leninakan, Armenia. He earned the title Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1977 and was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1985. In 1994 he was elected a member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
Ara Khachatryan is an Armenian weightlifter.
Tigran Vardan Martirosyan is an Armenian weightlifter. He is 175 cm tall. Martirosyan was awarded the Honored Master of Sports of Armenia title in 2009.
A wide array of sports are played in Armenia. Popular sports in Armenia include football, basketball, volleyball, and ice hockey. Further, the country sends athletes to the Olympics in boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming, and shooting. Armenia's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Being a landlocked country, water sports can only be practiced on lakes, notably Lake Sevan. Competitively, Armenia has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Armenia is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Federation of International Bandy (FIB), International School Sport Federation, International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), among others. It also hosts the Pan-Armenian Games.
Oksen Mirzoyan is a former Armenian weightlifter and European, World and Olympic Champion. Mirzoyan was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1984 and the Honored Coach of Armenia title in 1998.
Tigran Gevorg Martirosyan is an Armenian weightlifter. He was awarded the Honored Master of Sports of Armenia title in 2009. Martirosyan is an Armenian Champion, three-time European Champion, World Champion and was temporarily acknowledged as the youngest Olympic medalist from Armenia before being stripped of the medal for doping violations.
Gevorg Davtyan is an Armenian weightlifter. Davtyan received the Master of Sport of Armenia, International Class title in 2001, Best Sportsman of Armenia award in 2007, and Honored Master of Sport of Armenia title in 2009. He is 165 cm tall.
Antonio Krastev was a Bulgarian super heavyweight Olympic-style weightlifter best known for his 1987 heaviest ever snatch in IWF competition, at 216 kg. This was only equalled by Behdad Salimi of Iran at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and finally surpassed at the 2017 European Championships by Lasha Talakhadze, who now holds the record of 225 kg. Krastev's record was no longer official after the restructuring of the weight classes in 1993 and 1998. Krastev is a two-time world and European champion. He was also world junior champion in 1981 and runner-up in 1979. Antonio has six gold medals from World Cup tournaments and has a silver medal from the 1986 World Cup final in Melbourne. The Bulgarian giant is also a two-time Balkan champion and a ten-time Bulgarian champion - five for men and five for juniors. In 1987, he won the Golden Boot award for best performance at the European Championships in Reims, France.
Ashot Mkhitaryan was the head of the National weightlifting team of Armenia.
Israel Militosyan is an Armenian former weightlifter. He was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1989.
Hafız Süleymanoğlu, formerly known as Hafız Süleymanov, is a retired Turkish weightlifter of Azerbaijani origin competing in bantamweight and featherweight divisions. He held world and European champion titles.
Vardan Militosyan was a Soviet Armenian former weightlifter. He was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1976.
Arakel Mirzoyan is an Armenian weightlifter.
Norayr (Norik) Vardanyan is an Armenian and American weightlifter.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Sedov was a Kazakh weightlifter, who competed in men's 94 kg weight category.
These are the results of the Men's Light-Heavyweight Weightlifting Event at the 1980 Olympic Weightlifting competition in Moscow. A total of 19 men competed in this event, limited to competitors with a maximum body weight of 82.5 kilograms.
Lasha Talakhadze is a Georgian weightlifter, holding the all-time world records regardless of weight category in the snatch, the clean and jerk, and the total since 2021.
Simon Martirosyan is an Armenian weightlifter, Olympian, two time World Champion, and two time European Champion competing in the 105 kg category until 2018 and 109 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.
Jouni Johannes Grönman, is a Finnish former weightlifter who competed at four Olympic Games, and won a bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
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