Nazeli "Nazik" Avdalyan ( hy, Նազելի "Նազիկ" Ավդալյան, born October 31, 1986 in

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 ...

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 ' ...

) is an

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

Biography

Avdalyan won a gold medal at the

2009 World Weightlifting Championships The World Weightlifting Championships 2009 was held in Goyang, South Korea. The event took place from November 20 to November 29, 2009. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Ranking by Big (Total result) medals Ranking by all medals: Big (T ...

. Avdalyan is the first ever weightlifter from the independent Republic of Armenia to win a gold medal at the

World Weightlifting Championships The World Weightlifting Championships is an event organised by International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). The first competition, held in March 1891, was won by Edward Lawrence Levy of England. Athletes compete in a total of 20 weight categorie ...

and the first ever woman from Armenia to win a world championship in any sport. Armenian Sport Journalists Federation conducted an annual survey among 52 Armenian sport journalists who voted Nazik Avdalyan the best Armenian sportswoman of 2009. Avdalyan won by a record 520 points. On April 26, 2010, Avdalyan got in a car crash on Yerevan-Gyumri motorway and was taken to Gyumri hospital. She had received multiple bone fractures and a spine injury. Advalyan was transferred to Yerevan's Erebuni medical centre for additional examination and underwent lumbar surgery on April 28. After the rehabilitation process, Avdalyan said she will be able to compete in sports again in 2013. After seven years of absence Avdalyan made a huge comeback and won a gold medal at the 2016 European Weightlifting Championships.

Personal life

Nazik Avdalyan was married to former weightlifter Erik Karapetyan on June 9, 2012 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 ...

. The couple had been engaged for a long time but the wedding was delayed because of Avdalyan's car accident. In November, Avdalyan gave birth to a boy, Vache՛.

References

1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Gyumri Armenian female weightlifters European champions in weightlifting European champions for Armenia Weightlifters at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic weightlifters of Armenia European Weightlifting Championships medalists World Weightlifting Championships medalists 21st-century Armenian women {{Armenia-weightlifting-bio-stub