Nelson Davidyan ( hy, Նելսոն Դավթյան, 6 April 1950 – 11 September 2016) was a Soviet Armenian

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...

wrestler and coach. He was an Olympic silver medalist and two-time World and European Champion.

Biography

Davidyan was born in the village of Chartar within the Martuni Region of Nagorno-Karabakh to an Armenian family. His family moved to Grozny in 1958 and later to

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

. Davidyan began wrestling in the Greco-Roman style in 1964 and made the Soviet national team in 1969. He made his international début at the 1970

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 championship ...

, where he was sixth in the bantamweight division. Moving up to featherweight, Davidyan won the 1973 European Championship and then, moving up again to lightweight, won the 1974 World Wrestling Championships as a last minute replacement for Shamil Khisamutdinov. After the 1974 World Championships, Davidyan switched back to featherweight and competed in this class until the end of his career in 1981. After moving back to featherweight, Davidyan won the

1975 World Wrestling Championships The 1975 World Wrestling Championships were held Minsk, Soviet Union at Minsk Sports Palace. Greco-Roman wrestling competition was held 11–14 September, while freestyle wrestlers competed 15–18 September. Medal table Team ranking Medal su ...

as well as the 1975 and 1976 Soviet titles. Davidyan won a silver medal at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

in Montreal. He later won silver at the 1977 European Championships, the 1979 Soviet Championships, and the 1980 European Championships. Despite being the European Champion, he wasn't given any reason for not being selected to compete at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

in Moscow, and retired from wrestling in 1981. After finishing his sporting career, Davidyan worked as a wrestling coach. He was head coach of the Ukrainian national Greco-Roman wrestling team in the 1990s and also held that post again from 2006 to 2009.

References

External links

databaseOlympics.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidyan, Nelson 1950 births 2016 deaths People from Martuni Province Armenian male sport wrestlers Soviet male sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in wrestling Olympic wrestlers for the Soviet Union Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics World Wrestling Championships medalists Armenian wrestling coaches Soviet Armenians European Wrestling Championships medalists