By Paul Vartan Sookiasian
The last days of the Paris Summer Olympics contained performances by Armenia in freestyle wrestling and weightlifting, with Varazdat Lalayan securing a silver on Saturday night, bringing Armenia’s total to three silvers and one bronze.
Lalayan from the +102 kilogram super heavyweight category was one of the most anticipated of Armenia’s athletes and the last to compete. As the reigning European champion and World vice-champion, he went into Paris a heavy favorite to medal. In the first half of the competition, the snatch, Lalayan successfully lifted 215 kilograms (474 pounds), tying him with Georgian opponent Lasha Talakhadze. In the second half, the clean and jerk, Lalayan lifted 252 kilograms (555 pounds) but his attempt at 256 kilograms (564 pounds) was not successful. Talakhadze, who is the current world record holder and considered to be perhaps the best weightlifter of all time, secured gold by managing to lift 255 kilograms (562 pounds).
The South Caucasus truly dominated the competition, as the bronze went to Gor Minasyan, a native of Gyumri who switched to compete for Bahrain in 2022 because the crowded field of talented Armenian super heavyweights such as Lalayan threatened his ability to qualify for international competitions, due to limits on the number of athletes a country can send. The Olympics only allows for one competitor per country per weight class, and a country can only send three of each gender in total.
As for the rest of Armenia’s performances in the games’ closing days, Thursday saw freestyler Arsen Harutyunyan dominate his Mexican opponent 13-3, a preliminary match which ended early due to the overwhelming point spread. However Harutyunyan’s progress was halted later in the day during the quarterfinals as he fell 5-12 to an Uzbek opponent. That night, Armenia’s last Greco-Roman wrestler of the games Slavik Galstyan lost his bronze medal match 0-7 to a Cuban opponent.
Galstyan’s place in the bronze medal match was controversial in itself, as during his prior semi-final match Wednesday he appeared to pin his Iranian opponent, which would have given him the win and a guaranteed gold or silver medal. However, the result was overturned by a challenge on the grounds of being out of bounds, with Galstyan then losing the match sending him to the bronze medal match which he lost.
Only one Armenian athlete competed on Friday, 89 kilogram class weightlifter Andranik Karapetyan, and despite his coming in seventh, his mere presence at the games was a triumph in itself. During his previous Olympic appearance at Rio 2016, the then 20-year-old sustained a horrific injury during a lifting attempt of 429 pounds. It left his elbow dislocated and arm frighteningly mangled in a sight so shocking that it spread widely in the international press. His long road to recovery made this appearance eight years later a particularly triumphant return.
On Saturday, 65 kilogram class freestyle wrestler Vazgen Tevanyan won his first round against a Georgian opponent, with the match ending early due to the 11-0 point spread. During his next match in the quarterfinals, he appeared to grow tired in the second half and narrowly lost to his Mongolian opponent 5-7. Shortly after Tevanyan’s matches, weightlifter Garik Karapetyan, competed in the 102 kilogram category. He narrowly missed a medal, coming in fourth place by lifting 398 kilograms, while the bronze went to a Belarusian competitor with 402 kilograms.
These last days of the games were also marked by the fallout from Greco-Roman wrestler silver medalist Artur Aleksanyan’s 1-4 loss in the finals to Iran’s Mohammad Hadi Saravi. Armenia’s National Olympic Committee filed an appeal shortly afterwards with the International Olympic Committee protesting, asserting that an incorrect call by the referee resulted in Aleksanyan’s loss of the gold.
Aleksanyan believes an encounter during the match should have been judged in his favor, which would have led to his winning the match. Aleksanyan was visibly disappointed on the podium during the award ceremony, and in a sign of protest of the refereeing, removed the silver medal that had been placed around his neck. In a press conference on Friday, he stated his belief there is bias against the Armenian wrestlers, pointing to controversial calls also made against his teammates Slavik Galstyan and Arsen Harutyunyan.
For his part, Aleksanyan says he intends to continue his wrestling career despite what he called “disappointing referee biases and injustices.” Despite missing the gold medal, Aleksanyan’s silver makes him the first Armenian ever to win medals at four separate Olympic games, and his four medals ties him for most medals ever won by an Armenian athlete.
