Vladimir Yengibaryan ( hy, Վլադիմիր Ենգիբարյան, 24 April 1932 – 1 February 2013) was a Soviet and Armenian amateur light-welterweight boxer. He was an Olympic champion, three-time European champion and three-time Soviet champion. In 1956 he was named the

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 ...

and awarded the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

. During his career he won 255 out of 267 bouts.

Boxing career

Yengibaryan was born as a fourth child. He took up boxing in 1946, training in Yerevan first with Artyom Arutyunov and then with Edward Aristakesyan. Yengibaryan won a bronze medal in the bantamweight division at the 1951 Soviet Championships, and next year was included to the Soviet national team. He did not compete at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

due to an injury. Soviet Union debuted in the

European Amateur Boxing Championships The European Amateur Boxing Championships is the highest competition for boxing amateurs in Europe, organised by the continent's governing body EUBC, which stands for the ''European Boxing Confederation''. The first edition of the tournament t ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yug ...

, where Yengibaryan won a gold medal in the lightweight division, becoming the first Soviet European champion in boxing. In 1954, Yengibaryan moved up to the light-welterweight division and remained at this weight. He won his first Soviet title in 1955 and would win it again in 1956 and 1958. Yengibaryan also won gold medals at the 1956 Olympics and

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

and

1959 European Amateur Boxing Championships The 1959 European Amateur Boxing Championships were held in Lucerne, Switzerland from May 24 to May 31. The 13th edition of the bi-annual competition was organised by the European governing body for amateur boxing, EABA. There were 180 fighters ...

. He went to the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

in Rome as a favorite, but injured a shoulder in the tournament and lost in the quarterfinals to

Marian Kasprzyk 260px, Copy of the medal and autograph of M. Kasprzyk in '' Avenue of Sport Stars in Dziwnów '' Marian Krzysztof Kasprzyk (born September 22, 1939, in Kołomań) is a former Polish welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in comb ...

Coaching career

Yengibaryan retired shortly after the 1960 Olympics and for more than three decades coached young boxers in Yerevan. He founded the

Children and Youth Sport School A sports school (russian: Детско-Юношеская Спортивная Школа, ДЮСШ) is a type of educational institution for children that originated in the Soviet Union. Sports schools were the basis of the powerful system of ph ...

, which now bears his name. Yengibaryan later became an international judge and in the 1970s represented Soviet Union in the

AIBA The International Boxing Association (IBA), previously known as the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA), is an independent sport organization that sanctions amateur (Olympic-style) boxing matches and awards world and subordinate cha ...

Referee Commission. In 1992 he immigrated to the United States, where he worked as a boxing coach until his death.

Death

In his last years Yengibaryan was suffering from the Alzheimer's disease which resulted in his death at the age 81. A memorial service was held for him on February 3 in Armenia. The memorial ceremony for Yengibaryan took place at the Saint Sarkis Cathedral in Yerevan. The ceremony was attended by the Armenian Minister of Sport and President of National Olympic Committee. After the ceremony, an annual boxing tournament was dedicated to Yengibaryan. Later upon the wish of Yengibaryan's daughter his body was buried in Armenia.

References

External links

databaseOlympics.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yengibaryan, Vladimir 1932 births 2013 deaths Sportspeople from Yerevan Soviet male boxers Lightweight boxers Light-welterweight boxers Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Olympic boxers of the Soviet Union Boxers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in boxing Soviet Armenians Armenian male boxers Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Deaths from dementia in California Deaths from Alzheimer's disease

Boxing career

Coaching career

Death

See also

References

External links