Levon Julfalakyan (, born 5 April 1964) is a former Soviet Armenian

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

wrestler. He is an Olympic, World, and European Champion and was merited

Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR Unified All-Russian Sports Classification () is a system which regulates the Russian physical education system requirements for both athletes and coaches. History In the Soviet period Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR () exist ...

in 1988. Julfalakyan is the current head coach of the Armenian national Greco-Roman wrestling team and President of the Union of Armenian Olympians, as well as a member of the executive committee of the NOC.

Early life

Levon Julfalakyan was born in

Leninakan Gyumri (, ) is an urban municipal community and the List of cities and towns in Armenia, second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th centur ...

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 ...

(now

Gyumri Gyumri (, ) is an urban municipal community and the List of cities and towns in Armenia, second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th centur ...

, Armenia). Coming from an athletic background, both of his parents had been gymnasts. Levon attended gymnastics sections from an early age, then started wrestling in Gyumri Youth Academy. In 1983, he won the junior championship of the USSR. He graduated from Gyumri State Pedagogical Institute (now

Shirak State University Shirak State University (), also known as Shirak State University named after Mikayel Nalbandian () is a public university in Gyumri, the capital of Shirak Province, Armenia, opened in 1934. Overview Shirak State University is the largest educatio ...

Career

Julfalakyan joined the Soviet national wrestling team in 1985 and, in that same year, won a gold medal at the

Wrestling World Cup Wrestling World Cup is an international wrestling competition among teams representing member nations of the United World Wrestling (UWW) the sport's global governing body. The cups have been conducted by FILA (the UWW predecessor) every year sin ...

team competition. Julfalakyan later became a European Champion when he won a gold medal at the 1986

European Wrestling Championships The European Wrestling Championships is the second oldest international wrestling competition of the modern world and the main wrestling championships in Europe. It predates World Wrestling Championships and other regional wrestling championships ...

. Four months later, Julfalakyan also became a World Champion by winning a gold medal at the 1986 World Wrestling Championships. At the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

in Seoul, Julfalakyan competed in the weight category of 68 kg. Julfalakyan was very dominant in all of his matches and defeated every opponent by a wide margin of points. Julfalakyan was awarded an Olympic gold medal for his victory. A year prior to becoming an Olympic Champion, Julfalakyan came in third place at the

1989 World Wrestling Championships The 1989 World Wrestling Championships were held in Martigny, Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, ...

. He decided to retire from wrestling afterward. After retiring from competitions Julfalakyan worked as a wrestling coach. In 1999 he became the head coach of the Armenian national Greco-Roman wrestling team and president of the Union of Armenian Olympians. In 2002 he was appointed as vice-president of the Armenian Wrestling Federation, and next year became a member of the executive committee of the NOC. Julfalakyan was also President of the Armenian Olympians Association.

Personal life

Julfalakyan currently lives in Yerevan. He is married and has two sons Arsen and Aram, who are also wrestlers. His elder son

Arsen Julfalakyan Arsen Julfalakyan (, born 8 May 1987) is an Armenian Greco-Roman style wrestler, Olympic silver medalist, World and European Champion, World Cup winner and three-time Olympian. Early life Julfalakyan was born in the city of Leninakan (now Gyum ...

won an Olympic silver medal 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 for Armenia and carried the national flag at the closing ceremony.

Awards

Julfalakyan was awarded the "For Merit" 1st degree medal in 2012.

References

External links

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Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Julfalakyan, Levon 1964 births Living people Sport wrestlers from Gyumri Shirak State University alumni Soviet male sport wrestlers Armenian male sport wrestlers Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Olympic wrestlers for the Soviet Union Wrestlers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics World Wrestling Championships medalists Armenian wrestling coaches National team coaches Soviet Armenians Armenian sports executives and administrators European Wrestling Championships medalists Ethnic Armenian sportspeople