Armen Ghazaryan (, born June 19, 1982, in Spitak,

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia bordered the Soviet republics ...

) 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 ...

weightlifter Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

who later represented

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 ...

. Armen had a successful junior career. He won a silver medal at the 1997 under 16's Youth European Weightlifting Championships and won a gold medal at the 1998 under 16's Youth European Weightlifting Championships in La Coruna, Spain, becoming a Junior European Champion. Ghazaryan also won the bronze medal at the 1999 Junior World Championships under 56 kg category and the silver medal at the 2000 Junior World Championships under 62 kg category. Finally, Ghazaryan won the gold medal at the 2001 Junior World Championships in Thessaloniki and became a Junior World Champion. He competed for his native country

at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens, Greece, finishing in fourth place in the men's featherweight (62 kg) division. Though Ghazaryan lifted a total of 295 kg, the same as the bronze medalist, he took fourth place due to a personal weight difference. Ghazaryan would have won Armenia's only Olympic medal in 2004 had he won bronze. Ghazaryan later won a bronze medal at the 2006 European Weightlifting Championships. He also came in second on the clean & jerk at the 2006 World Weightlifting Championships. In May 2008 he became a

n citizen and began representing Russia. He still remained close with his friends on the Armenian national weightlifting team. He won a silver medal at the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships as a Russian weightlifter.

References

External links

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Armen Ghazaryan at Lift Up
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghazaryan, Armen 1982 births Living people People from Lori Province World Weightlifting Championships medalists Armenian male weightlifters 21st-century Armenian sportsmen Russian male weightlifters Olympic weightlifters for Armenia Weightlifters at the 2004 Summer Olympics European Weightlifting Championships medalists 21st-century Russian sportsmen