He's an Olympic silver medalist and European Champion and was awarded the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR title in 1988.

In 1976, his family moved to Vanadzor, where he started freestyle wrestling under teacher Hakob Gendzhyana.

That same year, he won a gold medal at the Wrestling World Cup team competition, defeating American Lee Roy Smith in the finals.

As the European Champion, Sarkisyan qualified for participation at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Sarkisyan easily and dominantly defeated all of his competition up to the finals, where he faced John Smith, younger brother of Lee Roy.