Arakel Mirzoyan ( hy, Առաքել Միրզոյան; born October 21, 1989) is an

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 ''Ox ...

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 lift ...

Early life

Arakel Mirzoyan was born in

Baghramyan, Vagharshapat Baghramyan ( hy, Բաղրամյան ) is a village in the Armavir Province of Armenia. It is named after the Soviet Armenian military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Bagramyan. Notable people * Arakel Mirzoyan Arakel Mirzoyan ( ...

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

. His father, Oksen Mirzoyan, was a weightlifter who won an Olympic gold medal 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 ...

, the then Head Coach of the Armenian national weightlifting team and the current Chairman of the Armenian Weightlifting Federation. Mirzoyan began following in his father's footsteps at a young age. His own weightlift career started when he lifted 20 kg weight at the age of 5. Since then, Arakel has devoted his life to weightlifting.

Career

Mirzoyan won various junior championships. The Armenian weightlifter won silver at the 2007 European Youth Championships in Landskrona with a total of 257 kg. A year later, in the city of Durrës, he became champion of Europe with a total of 310 kg. In the same year, at the World Youth Championships in Cali, with a total of 302 kg, Arakel won the silver medal. After that, Mirzoyan participated at International Student Games in 2008, winning the silver medal by lifting 312 kg in total. Now competing as a senior, Arakel Mirzoyan lifted a total of 336 kg at the

2009 European Weightlifting Championships The 2009 European Weightlifting Championships were held in Bucharest, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine t ...

in Bucharest to become the European Champion. In the same year, he went to the 2009 World Weightlifting Championships in Goyang, where he lifted a total weight of 334 kg and won the silver medal, behind the reigning Olympic Champion Liao Hui. Arakel later claimed a hand injury prevented him from winning gold. In 2010, Mirzoyan changed his weight class and began performing in the weight category of 77 kg. He had to miss a number of championships in order to adjust to this new weight. At the 2011 World Championships in France, he took 10th place with a total weight of 338 kg. He returned to 69 kg sometime afterward. He competed at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. In a disappointing performance, Mirzoyan failed to register a total and dropped out of the competition. Weeks later, Armenian Weightlifting Federation President Samvel Khachatryan revealed Mirzoyan had been suffering from psychological problems, preventing him from competing to the fullest of his ability. In training, Khachatryan saw Mirzoyan lift 160 kilograms in snatch and 200 kilograms in clean and jerk. Khachatryan stated that he would not have allowed Mirzoyan to perform if he had been aware of his psychological problems. Mirzoyan himself later apologized to his fans for his defeat and promised to learn from his problems and give a better performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, he competed in the light heavyweight category, but again failed to register a total.

References

External links

Arakel Mirzoyan at Lift Up

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirzoyan, Arakel 1989 births Living people People from Ararat Province Armenian male weightlifters Weightlifters at the 2012 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic weightlifters of Armenia European champions in weightlifting European champions for Armenia European Weightlifting Championships medalists World Weightlifting Championships medalists 21st-century Armenian people