His family moved to Gyumri in 1966, where he began studying Greco-Roman wrestling in 1972 under the coaching of Yuri Karapetyan.

In 1978, Arutunyan entered the Belarusian State University of Physical Training and moved to Minsk, where he continued to train under honored coach of the USSR Alexander Sheleg.

Later he participated in the veterans tournament and as a coach worked on a master's degree at the College of Sports and Olympic Games preparations.

Since 2007, he works as a coach on physical training for FC Dinamo Minsk.

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