Levon Julfalakyan ( hy, Լեւոն Ջուլֆալակյան, born 5 April 1964) is a former

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

n Greco-Roman wrestler. He is an Olympic, World, and European Champion and was merited

Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR (russian: Единая Всесоюзная спортивная классификация) is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for both athletes an ...

in 1988. Julfalakyan is the current head coach of the Armenian national Greco-Roman wrestling team and President of the Union of Armenian Olympians, as well as a member of the Executive Committee of the NOC.

Early life

Levon Julfalakyan was born in Leninakan, Armenian SSR (now

Gyumri Gyumri ( hy, Գյումրի, ) is an urban municipal community and the second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th century, when the city w ...

). Coming from an athletic background, both of his parents had been gymnasts. Levon attended gymnastics sections from an early age, then started wrestling in Gyumri Youth Academy. In 1983, he won the junior championship of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. He graduated from Gyumri State Pedagogical Institute (now

Shirak State University Shirak State University ( hy, Շիրակի պետական համալսարան), also known as Shirak State University named after Mikayel Nalbandian ( hy, Շիրակի Միքայել Նալբանդյանի անվան պետական համալսա� ...

Career

Julfalakyan joined the Soviet national wrestling team in 1985 and, in that same year, won a gold medal at the

Wrestling World Cup Wrestling World Cup is an international wrestling competition among teams representing member nations of the United World Wrestling (UWW) the sport's global governing body. The cups have been conducted by FILA (the UWW predecessor) every year sinc ...

team competition. Julfalakyan later became a European Champion when he won a gold medal at the 1986

European Wrestling Championships The European Wrestling Championships is the second oldest international wrestling competition of the modern world and the main wrestling championships in Europe. It predates World Wrestling Championships and other regional wrestling championships ...

. Four months later, Julfalakyan also became a World Champion by winning a gold medal at the 1986 World Wrestling Championships. At the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, Julfalakyan competed in the weight category of 68 kg. Julfalakyan was very dominant in all of his matches and defeated every opponent by a wide margin of points. Julfalakyan was awarded an Olympic gold medal for his victory. A year prior to becoming an Olympic Champion, Julfalakyan came in third place at the

1989 World Wrestling Championships The 1989 World Wrestling Championships were held in Martigny Martigny (; german: Martinach, ; la, Octodurum) is the capital city of the district of Martigny, canton of Valais, Switzerland. It lies at an elevation of , and its population is app ...

. He decided to retire from wrestling afterward. After retiring from competitions Julfalakyan worked as a wrestling coach. In 1999 he became the head coach of the Armenian national Greco-Roman wrestling team and president of the Union of Armenian Olympians. In 2002 he was appointed as vice-president of the Armenian Wrestling Federation, and next year became a member of the Executive Committee of the NOC. Julfalakyan was also President of the Armenian Olympians Association.

Personal life

Julfalakyan currently lives in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

. He is married and has two sons Arsen and Aram, who are also wrestlers. His elder son

Arsen Julfalakyan Arsen Julfalakyan ( hy, Արսեն Ջուլֆալակյան, born 8 May 1987) Ph.D., is an Armenian Greco-Roman style wrestler, Olympic silver medalist, World and European Champion, World Cup winner and three-time Olympian. Early life Julfalaky ...

won an Olympic silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

for

and carried the national flag at the closing ceremony.

Awards

Julfalakyan was awarded the "For Merit" 1st degree medal in 2012.

References

External links

The-Sports.orgInterview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Julfalakyan, Levon 1964 births Living people Sportspeople from Gyumri Shirak State University alumni Soviet male sport wrestlers Armenian male sport wrestlers Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Olympic wrestlers of the Soviet Union Wrestlers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics World Wrestling Championships medalists Armenian wrestling coaches National team coaches Soviet Armenians Armenian sports executives and administrators European Wrestling Championships medalists Ethnic Armenian sportspeople