Artur Akopyan ( hy, Արթուր Հակոբյան born September 28, 1961) is an

Armenian-American Armenian Americans ( hy, ամերիկահայեր, ''amerikahayer'') are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in ...

gymnastics coach for the USA Gymnastics National Team and a former gymnast on the USSR Olympic Gymnastics Team. He is credited as the first athlete to do a Tsukahara double twist. Akopyan received three scores of 10 at the 1981 World Championships in Moscow. His competitive career included the 1983 World vault title, in addition to three other World individual medals.

Coaching career

Akopyan previously coached 2012 Olympic champion

McKayla Maroney McKayla Rose Maroney (born December 9, 1995) is a retired American artistic gymnast and singer. She was a member of the American women's gymnastics team dubbed the Fierce Five at the 2012 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal in the team a ...

. His past national team members include

Mattie Larson Mattie Larson (born May 20, 1992) is an American former artistic gymnast. She competed at the senior elite level from 2008 to 2010. Larson was the 2010 U.S. national champion on floor exercise. At that year's World Championships, she won a silver ...

and

Samantha Shapiro Samantha "Sami" Shapiro (born May 18, 1993) is an American gymnast. She is a five-time member of the US Women's National Gymnastics Team. She was the 2007 U.S. junior uneven bars champion, 2008 U.S. junior uneven bars and balance beam champion, ...

. He served as a member of the national team coaching staff from 1989 to 2004. He coaches at

All Olympia Gymnastics Center The All Olympia Gymnastics Center or AOGC is a one-facility gymnastics gym in Calabasas. The head coaches are 1983 World Vault Champion Artur Akopyan and 1980 Olympian Galina Marinova. Their notable elite gymnasts are 2012 Olympic Champion McKa ...

in Los Angeles, California. Akopyan gained recognition in the United States after

Bela Karolyi Bela may refer to: Places Asia *Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India *Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India *Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara * Bela, Dang, in Nepal * Bela, Janakpur, ...

asked him to help gymnast

Kim Zmeskal Kimberly Lynn Zmeskal Burdette (née ''Zmeskal'' on February 6, 1976) is an American retired artistic gymnast turned gymnastics coach and the 1991 World All-Around champion. A member of the silver medal-winning U.S. team from the 1991 World Cha ...

. Within a couple of days, Akopyan was able to help Zmeskal with elements of her compulsory routine that she had been working on for a year.

Competitive history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akopyan, Artur 1961 births Living people Soviet male artistic gymnasts World champion gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Gymnastics coaches Sportspeople from Yerevan Universiade medalists in gymnastics Universiade silver medalists for the Soviet Union Universiade bronze medalists for the Soviet Union