Mkhitar Manukyan (, born 20 September 1973) is a retired

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- Kazakh

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 competed at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 2004. He also won a world title in 1998 and 1999 and an Asian title in 1997 and 1999.

Biography

Mkhitar Manukyan was born 20 September 1973 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 ...

(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 ...

. He took up Greco-Roman wrestling at the age of ten. Manukyan lost both of his parents and a sister in the

1988 Armenian earthquake The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake (), occurred on December 7 at with a surface-wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X (''Devastating''). The shock occurred in the northern region of Armenia (then ...

. According to him, this tragedy helped him in wrestling. He became a junior world champion twice in 1990 and 1991. From 1993 to 1996, Manukyan was a member of the Armenia national Greco-Roman wrestling team. He won bronze medals at the 1995 World Wrestling Championships and

1996 European Wrestling Championships The 1996 European Wrestling Championships were held in the Greco-Romane and the men's Freestyle style in Budapest 21 – 30 March 1996; the women's Freestyle style in Oslo 1 – 3 June 1996 . Medal table Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's G ...

. Manukyan participated at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, together with his brothers Aghasi and Samvel. In 1997, Manukyan received an invitation from the Greco-Roman wrestling head coach of Kazakhstan, Daulet Turlykhanov, and moved to

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

and continued to compete under the flag of Kazakhstan. In the same year, Manukyan won a gold medal at the

1997 Asian Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 1997 Asian Wrestling Championships being held in Iran and Taiwan. Medal table Team ranking Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's Greco-Roman Women's freestyle See also * List of sporting events in ...

. He later won a gold medal at the 1998 World Wrestling Championships. In 1999, Manukyan became a two-time Asian and two-time World Champion at the 1999 Asian Wrestling Championships and

1999 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 1999 World Wrestling Championships. Men's Freestyle competition were held in Ankara, Turkey. Men's Greco-Roman competition were held in Piraeus, Greece and Women's competition were held in Boden, Sweden. ...

. Manukyan was recognized as the best fighter of the year for 1999 by the

International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. He was one of the medal favorites for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

in Sydney, but in the preliminary stage of the competition, he lost to

Juan Marén Juan Luis Marén Delis (born August 20, 1971) is a Cuban wrestler in the Greco-Roman style, who has won three medals at the Olympic Games. He was born in Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital ci ...

and came in seventh place. In January 2001, Manukyan underwent a complex surgery on the

cervical vertebrae In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In saurop ...

due to a serious back injury, and could not recover to his previous level. Yet he was selected for 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 ...

and won a bronze medal. In the semifinal, he suffered his only loss to Seref Eroglu, while leading 3–2, and then defeated

Jimmy Samuelsson Jimmy Fredrik Samuelsson (born 7 November 1976) is a retired Sweden, Swedish sport wrestler. He was born in Norrtälje, and represented the sports club Spårvägens IK. At the World Championships he finished fourth in 2001 World Wrestling Champion ...

. Manukyan retired in 2005 to become an assistant coach, and later the head coach of the Kazakhstan Greco-Roman wrestling team.

Personal life

Manukyan is married to Arevik, an Armenian woman from Gyumri; they have a daughter named Nora who is a scholar.

References

External links

About life

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manukyan, Mkhitar 1973 births Living people Sport wrestlers from Gyumri Kazakhstani male sport wrestlers Armenian male sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for Armenia Olympic wrestlers for Kazakhstan Wrestlers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Kazakhstan Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Wrestling Championships medalists Wrestlers at the 1998 Asian Games Wrestlers at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in wrestling Kazakhstani people of Armenian descent Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for Kazakhstan European Wrestling Championships medalists Asian Wrestling Championships medalists