Artur Akopyan ( born September 28, 1961) is an

Armenian-American Armenian Americans () are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in Russia. The first major wave of Armenian immig ...

gymnastics coach for the USA Gymnastics National Team and a former gymnast on the USSR Olympic Gymnastics Team. He is credited as the first athlete to do a Tsukahara double twist. Akopyan received three scores of 10 at the 1981 World Championships in Moscow. His competitive career included the 1983 World vault title, in addition to three other World individual medals.

Coaching career

Akopyan previously coached 2012 Olympic champion

McKayla Maroney McKayla Rose Maroney (born December 9, 1995) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was a member of the American women's gymnastics team, dubbed the Fierce Five, that won a gold medal in the team competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics. ...

. His past national team members include Mattie Larson and Samantha Shapiro. He served as a member of the national team coaching staff from 1989 to 2004. He coaches at

All Olympia Gymnastics Center The All Olympia Gymnastics Center or AOGC is a one-facility gymnastics gym in Calabasas. A previous location in Hawthorne, California, was closed down. The head coaches are 1983 World Vault Champion Artur Akopyan and 1980 Olympian Galina Marinov ...

in Los Angeles, California. Akopyan gained recognition in the United States after Bela Karolyi asked him to help gymnast

Kim Zmeskal Kimberly Lynn Zmeskal Burdette (born February 6, 1976) is an American retired artistic gymnast turned gymnastics coach and the 1991 World All-Around champion. A member of the silver medal-winning U.S. team from the 1991 World Championships (th ...

. Within a couple of days, Akopyan was able to help Zmeskal with elements of her compulsory routine that she had been working on for a year.

Competitive history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akopyan, Artur 1961 births Living people Soviet male artistic gymnasts World champion gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Gymnastics coaches Sportspeople from Yerevan Summer World University Games medalists in gymnastics FISU World University Games silver medalists for the Soviet Union FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the Soviet Union