Ken Topalian (born 5 July 1963) is an American bobsledder. He competed in the two man event at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

, representing Armenia. Along with Joe Almasian, they were the first athletes to represent

Armenia at the Olympics Armenia first participated at the Olympic Games as an independent nation in 1994, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games since then. Previously, Armenian athletes competed as part of the Soviet Uni ...

Biography

Topalian was born in

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Falls ...

in 1963. He worked in an auto repair shop in his hometown and attended the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Island ...

. Three years after Armenia had gained independence in 1991, Topalian and Joe Almasian formed a team with the aim to compete in the bobsled event at the

representing Armenia. This included getting a second-hand bobsled from American Samoa. They both attended the training centre in Lake Placid to learn how to bobsled, being trained by Jim Hickey who had previously represented the United States at the Olympics in the event. They could train for three hours each day at the weekend, using a sled from the 1960s. To qualify for the Olympics, both of them gained Armenian citizenship and competed in five international races. With less than three weeks before the start of the 1994 Winter Olympics, Topalian and Almasian were given permission by the Armenian government to compete at the games. They were the only athletes to represent

Armenia at the 1994 Winter Olympics Armenia sent a delegation to compete at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway from 12–27 February 1994. This was Armenia's first time competing at the Winter Olympic Games as an independent nation. The Armenian delegation consisted ...

. They finished in 36th place in the two-man event, ahead of seven other teams. Neither of them competed in the event since the Olympics, and they had never been to Armenia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Topalian, Ken 1963 births Living people American male bobsledders Armenian male bobsledders Olympic bobsledders for Armenia Bobsledders at the 1994 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Pawtucket, Rhode Island American people of Armenian descent