List of Armenian Olympic medalists
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Historically, only a portion of ethnic Armenian athletes and athletes of Armenian descent have competed for
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 ''O ...
in the Olympic Games. Armenian kings Tiridates III and Varazdat were recorded as champions in the
Ancient Olympic Games The ancient Olympic Games (Ὀλυμπιακοὶ ἀγῶνες; la, Olympia, neuter plural: "the Olympics") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece ...
. The first Armenians to participate in modern Olympics were athletes Mkrtich Mkryan and Vahram Papazyan, who represented the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
at the 1912 Stockholm Games. The first Armenian to win a medal was
Hal Haig Prieste Hal Haig "Harry" Prieste (November 23, 1896 – April 19, 2001) was an Armenian-American athlete who participated in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp as a diver. Biography He was born Haig Prieste in Fresno, California to Armenian im ...
, a son of Armenian immigrants, who won a bronze medal in diving at the 1920 Antwerp Games for the United States. Soviet Armenian gymnast
Hrant Shahinyan Hrant Shahinyan ( hy, Հրանտ Շահինյան, 30 July 1923 – 29 May 1996), also known as Grant Shaginyan, was a Soviet Armenian gymnast. Specializing in the still rings and pommel horse, he is a two-time Olympic Champion, two-time World Ch ...
became the first Armenian gold medalist of the modern Olympics in 1952. From 1952 to 1988, most Armenian athletes represented the Soviet Union. Although Armenia became an independent state in 1991, during the
1992 Barcelona Games The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
Armenia and other former Soviet states (except the Baltic states) were part of the Unified Team. The
National Olympic Committee of Armenia The Armenian Olympic Committee (ARMNOC) ( hy, Հայաստանի ազգային օլիմպիական կոմիտե, translit=Hayastani Olimpiakan Komite) is responsible for Armenia's participation in the Olympic Games. It is headquartered in Yer ...
was founded in 1990 and became an
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...
member in 1993. Since 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 fr ...
in Lillehammer, the Republic of Armenia participates separately, but some Armenian athletes still compete under foreign flags, including ethnic Armenians born abroad and those who emigrated from Armenia.


Ancient Olympic Games

One of the most prominent Armenian kings, Tiridates III, who is best known for adopting Christianity as Armenia's state religion in early 4th century, became a champion in wrestling in the 265th Olympics in 281, aged 22–23. King of Armenia Varazdat (Varasdates) from the Arshakuni dynasty, who reigned between 374 and 378, is the last known champion of the
Ancient Olympic Games The ancient Olympic Games (Ὀλυμπιακοὶ ἀγῶνες; la, Olympia, neuter plural: "the Olympics") were a series of athletic competitions among representatives of city-states and were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece ...
. He became a champion in fisticuffs at the 291st Olympic Games in 385 A.D., seven years after leaving the Armenian throne.


Modern Olympics


Summer Olympics


By games


By sport


By country


Disqualified athletes

*
Ashot Danielyan Ashot Danielyan ( hy, Աշոտ Դանիելյան , born April 11, 1974, in Yerevan, Armenian SSR) is a retired Armenian weightlifter. Danielyan is a two-time European champion, having won consecutive gold medals at the 1999 and 2000 European We ...
of Armenia was stripped of his medal and suspended following a positive
drug test A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of ...
after winning a bronze medal at the
2000 Sydney Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
in Men's +105 kg
Weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various types of competition; pro ...
. *
Ara Abrahamian Ara Abrahamian ( hy , Արա Աբրահամյան; born 27 July 1975) is an Armenian- Swedish wrestler in Greco-Roman wrestling. He has won two World Championships in the 76 kg and 84 kg weight classes and a silver medal at the 2004 Su ...
of Sweden was disqualified after winning a bronze medal at the
2008 Beijing Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
in Men's Greco-Roman 84 kg
Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...
due to "violating the spirit of fair play."


Winter Olympics


By games


By sport


By country


Armenian coaches

* Adam Krikorian, the head coach of the United States women's national water polo team, which won gold medals at the 2012, 2016, and 2020 Olympics. * Brian Goorjian, the head coach of the Australia men's national basketball team, which won a bronze medal at the
2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
. *
Rafael Arutyunyan Rafael Arutyunyan ( hy, Ռաֆայել Հարությունյան, ''Harutyunyan''; russian: Рафаэль Владимирович Арутюнян; born July 5, 1957) is an Armenian-American figure skating coach. He has coached in Armenia, Rus ...
, coach of Nathan Chenhttps://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports/figure-skating-chen-world-record-left-coach-teary-eyed-2022-02-09/ "Nathan Chen's world record short programme in the Olympic figure skating was no surprise for his long-standing coach Rafael Arutyunyan but the emotion of the moment brought a tear to his eye, the Armenian American said on Wednesday."


See also

*
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 Unio ...


References

;Notes ;Citations


Bibliography

* list of ethnic Armenian medalists up to 2000*{{cite journal, last=Ispirian, first=M.S., title=Հայ մարզիկների մասնակցությունը հին հունական օլիմպիական խաղերին articipation of Armenian sportsmen in Old Olympic Gamesjournal=
Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri ''Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri'' ( hy, Լրաբեր հասարակական գիտությունների "Bulletin/Review of Social Sciences") is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Armenian Academy of Sciences covering ...
, year=2000, issue=1, pages=189–196, url=http://lraber.asj-oa.am/1832/, publisher= Armenian Academy of Sciences, location=Yerevan, language=hy medalists Lists of Olympic medalists
Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...
Olympic medalists for Armenia