[1] Yurik Sarkisyan was born in the village of Samagar, Armenian SSR in the Echmiadzin region.

At the age of 18, Sarkisyan competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics, the same year he joined the Soviet national team.

Following the Olympic Games, Sarkisyan moved up to the featherweight (60 kg) division, where he would compete at for the rest of his career.

He had soon started competing for his native Armenia, which gained its independence from the Soviet Union that same year.

Yurik Sarkisyan was named the national team leader for the 1993 World Weightlifting Championships in Melbourne.

Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan and Prosecutor General sent him congratulatory messages and a certificate of honor.

In return, Sarkisyan conveyed the Armenian president a coin with his profile, made in Australia.