David Safaryan (; born 1 August 1989) is an

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

wrestler and World and European Champion.

Biography

Safaryan was born on 1 August 1989 in

Cherkessk Cherkessk (; Adyghe language, Adyghe: Шэрджэс къалэ; Kabardian language, Kabardian: Черкес-къалэ) is the capital city of Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, as well as its political, economic, and cultural center. Population: 112 ...

. He began wrestling since childhood in his father's initiative, who had the title of Master of Sports in wrestling. Since 2003, he trained in

Krasnodar Krasnodar, formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southern Russia, with a population of 1,154,885 residents, and up to 1.263 millio ...

under Abdulla Magomedov. From 2006 to 2009, he was a member of the cadet and junior national team of Russia, becoming a Cadet European Champion in 2006 and 2007 and a Junior World Championships silver medalist in 2009. Later, Safaryan decided to compete for

, where he began to train under the head coach of the Armenian freestyle wrestling team Araik Baghdadyan. His first success at the senior international level came when he won a bronze medal at the

2012 European Wrestling Championships The 2012 European Wrestling Championships were held in Belgrade, Serbia, from 8 March to 11 March 2012.Archived copy

. Shortly thereafter, he competed at the

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

in London, but was unable to win a medal due to controversial refereeing while facing Kazakh

Akzhurek Tanatarov Akzhurek Dostykuly Tanatarov (; born 3 September 1986) is a Kazakh freestyle wrestler. At the 2012 Summer Olympics he was defeated in the semifinal round of the 66 kg freestyle event by Sushil Kumar of India. Kumar, who was beaten in the fi ...

in the quarterfinals, amid a number of other controversial Kazakhstan victories. He won a gold medal at the

2013 European Wrestling Championships The 2013 European Wrestling Championships were held in Tbilisi, Georgia, from 19 March to 24 March 2013. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's Greco-Roman Women's freestyle (*) Romanian original silver medallist ...

in Tbilisi. Safaryan is the first Armenian to become a European Champion in freestyle wrestling in nine years. Prime Minister of Georgia

Bidzina Ivanishvili Bidzina Ivanishvili (; born 18 February 1956), also known as Boris Grigoryevich Ivanishvili, is a French-Georgian businessman, politician and billionaire oligarch. He is founder and the leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party and has ruled G ...

came up and congratulated David afterwards. At the

2013 Summer Universiade The 2013 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade (; ), was held in the city of Kazan, Russia, the most northerly city ever to host a Summer Universiade. Over 10,400 university athletes from 162 countries participated ...

in Kazan, he won a silver medal. Later that year Safaryan also won the gold medal at the

2013 World Wrestling Championships The 2013 World Wrestling Championships was the 9th edition of World Wrestling Championships of combined events and were held from September 16 to 22 in Budapest, Hungary. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's Greco- ...

in Budapest, taking revenge on Tanatarov in the quarterfinals and defeating Cuban

Liván López Liván López Azcuy (born January 24, 1982) is a male freestyle wrestler from Cuba who competes in the 66 kg category. In 2011, he won a gold medal at the Pan American Games and a bronze medal at the 2011 World Wrestling Championships. The next y ...

, another 2012 Olympic medalist, in the finals. Safaryan was named the Armenian Athlete of the Year for 2013 by vote conducted by the Republican Federation of Sports Journalists of Armenia. He also competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

References

External links

* * * 1989 births Living people People from Cherkessk Armenian male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for Armenia Wrestlers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Russian sportspeople of Armenian descent European Games competitors for Armenia Wrestlers at the 2015 European Games World Wrestling Championships medalists Summer World University Games medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 2016 Summer Olympics FISU World University Games silver medalists for Armenia European Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade {{Armenia-sport-bio-stub