Sport in Armenia
[1] Further, the country sends athletes to the Olympics in boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming, and shooting.
[1] Armenia's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing.
But those difficulties notwithstanding, 90 percent of Armenian athletes on Soviet Olympic teams came back with medals.
Armenia participates in the Summer Olympic Games in boxing, fencing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming, and sharp shooting.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Armen Nazaryan won the gold in the Men's Greco-Roman Flyweight (52 kg) category, and Armen Mkrtchyan won the silver in Men's Freestyle Paperweight (48 kg) category, securing Armenia's first two medals in its modern Olympic history.
Many other Armenian players have played in European domestic leagues such as Arthur Petrosyan, Sargis Hovsepyan, Roman Berezovsky, Edgar Manucharyan, Yura Movsisyan and many others.
Many Armenian diaspora footballers represented their country of birth, with the most notable players including Youri Djorkaeff and Alain Boghossian who were both part of the winning French team in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Andranik Eskandarian and Andranik Teymourian of Iran, Alecko Eskandarian of the United States, Kevork Mardikian and Mardik Mardikian of Syria, Wartan Ghazarian and Agop Donabidian of Lebanon, etc.
Notable chess players of Armenia include Tigran Petrosian, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Sergei Movsesian and Rafael Vaganian.
The 1999 men team was made up of Smbat Lputian, Artashes Minasian, Ashot Anastasian, Levon Aronian and Arshak Petrosian.
Two years later, Armenia successfully defended their Olympiad title with a second consecutive win in Dresden, the team being made up of Levon Aronian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, Tigran L. Petrosian and Artashes Minasian.
Members of the Armenian chess team were Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian and Robert Hovhannisyan.
The team consisted of Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian and Tigran L. Petrosian.
In April 2007, the Armenia national team won the 2007 European Championships in Strasbourg, with 10 gold medals.
Vardanyan won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world's first weightlifter to achieve 400 point totals in the 82.5 kg weight category.
Though Armenia has had little success in amateur boxing, the country has still produced an Olympic medalist, Hrachik Javakhyan, and a World Champion, Nshan Munchyan.
Karapet Karapetyan was long time Netherlands Champion in kickboxing and came far in boxing but stopped to continue as a lawyer.
Thus, many prominent competitors represent the country in the European and World championships, including Artur Davtyan and Harutyun Merdinyan.
Currently, 8 teams take part in the Armenian futsal league, representing the cities of Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Kapan and Alaverdi.
[16] Due to the lack of success lately on the international level, in recent years, Armenia has rebuilt 16 Soviet-era sports schools and furnished them with new equipment for a total cost of $1.9 million.
In 2005, a cycling center was opened in Yerevan, with the aim of helping produce world class Armenian cyclists.
Rector of the Yerevan State Institute of Physical Culture Vahram Arakelian believes that Armenia will produce Olympic champions in 2016, because by that time “the work of new coaches and their influence on their trainees will be seen.”[17] The Football Federation of Armenia has opened 3 modern football training academies in Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor, in 2010, 2014, and 2016 respectively.
