Weightlifting in Armenia

Weightlifting has rapidly become the second sport in Armenia, second only to football as the nation’s favourite. It was introduced to Armenia just after the First World War; however, it was not until after the Second World War that the sport really took off. Soviet successes in weightlifting during the 1970’s raised the profile of the sport throughout the Soviet Socialist Republics. Armenia SSR was no different and the sport grabbed the media attention when, in 1976, Vardan Militosyan won a silver medal at the 1976 Olympic Games, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Yurik Vardanyan

Olympic Champion
However, it was not until the 1980’s that Armenia SSR enjoyed its greatest success when Yurik Vardanyan became Olympic champion in 1980. Born in Armenia’s second largest city of Gyumri (which has a long history of producing Weightlifting champions) he went on to become World and European Weightlifting Champion. A great ambassador for the sport, Vardanyan became a soviet (and Armenian) sporting hero and icon, being awarded the Order of Lenin in 1985 in honour of his sporting achievements.

World Record Holder
Vardanyan became the first weightlifter to lift over 400 Kilograms in the 82.5Kg category, he went on to break a number of world records as well as amassing an impressive 22 Gold medals in World, European and Soviet championships during his career.

Minister for Sport
In 2009, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan appointed Yurik Vardanyan as his sports advisor going on to become the Armenian Minister for Sport in 2013.

Independence
After gaining independence from the Soviet Union Armenia continued its weightlifting traditions and to this day is considered to be one of the strongest weightlifting nations. To this day, Armenia still holds four world records in weightlifting.

Olympic Success
In 2010 Tigran Martirosyan became weightlifting World Champion and to this day remains their only world champion at the sport. However, two years prior at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Armenia brought home three bronze medals; this is made more impressive when you consider that Armenia is a relatively small nation. In fact, 2008 was the most successful year for Armenian weightlifting. The European Weightlifting Championship showcased the strength of the Armenian team when they achieved 1st place in style. In the same year, Tigran Martirosyan, Gevorg Davtyan and Tigran Vardan Martirosyan all went on to claim bronze medals at the Beijing Olympics, making it the most successful Olympics games for an independent Armenia.