Mihran Harutyunyan, fight: biography of the participant of the Olympiad in Rio

After the Olympic Games in Rio, almost all sports lovers know this name and not only. Mihran Harutyunyan is Armenian and Russian sportsman, master of sports of international class, wrestler of Greco-Roman style. Performs in a weight category up to 66 kg. In 2016, at the Olympic Games in the capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, he was deprived of a gold medal and received a silver medal.

The athlete was terribly disappointed and even thought about quitting sports forever - the work of his whole life. However, in his country, he received tremendous support from the people, and the president of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan declared him a gold medalist and rewarded accordingly.

Sportsman Mihran Harutyunyan (wrestling): biography, childhood

The future champion was born in the spring of 1989 in Armenia, in the city of Echmiadzin. When the boy was 4 years old, his family moved to live in Moscow. Here he went to school, studied well, but he was a very active child, he made many jokes. At the age of 12, with the onset of the transition years, parents did not know how to continue to be with his irrepressible energy and decided to direct his enthusiasm to the sport, and as a species the Greco-Roman struggle was chosen. His first mentor in the sport was honored coach of the Soviet Union, former champion in the sport, Aram Sargsyan.

The first victory

Less than three weeks after the boy began to visit the section, and the coach decided to present a talented pupil at the competition for schoolchildren in Greco-Roman wrestling in honor of the Day of Defender of the Fatherland and was not mistaken. Mihran Harutyunyan became the winner in the weight category up to 35 kg. The Greco-Roman struggle has since become the main thing in his life. The taste of the first victory inspired the boy, and he became more serious about his training, wanting to achieve outstanding results in the sport. By its nature, Mihran is a workaholic, and also has incredible endurance. He can give up many temptations of life if he has a goal in front of him. In one of his interviews he told me that he had these qualities from his father, whose example was always before his eyes. Once in a foreign land, Harutyunyan Sr. worked tirelessly to provide the family with normal living conditions.

Ah, this is the sweet word "winner"! Disappointment

In 2006, 17-year-old Mihran became the winner of the European Championship among juniors, a year later was already a champion in this age category. Next, moving into the adult category, he became a silver medalist of the Russian championship. The following year, he managed to win a gold medal in the championship of Russia. However, it was during this period that Mihran felt a prejudiced attitude towards his person. Despite the fact that he was the champion of the title, he was not given the opportunity to compete for a license to participate in the London Olympics. Of course, fans of this sport were perplexed, where is Mihran Harutyunyan? The fight in the weight category up to 66 kilograms for many Russians was associated with his name, because he wore the title of the current champion. Thus, because of the intrigues around his name, the great fighter M. Harutyunyan was not admitted to the Olympics. Of course, it was insulting, it was the last straw of his patience.

At home

After all this, Mihran decided to return to Armenia and continue his sports career under the republic's tricolor. Almost immediately he won the title of champion of the country, but in international competitions he had no right to speak, as he was in a two-year quarantine. At the end of this period, he first introduced his country to the World Championships in Tashkent, but did not qualify for the prize because he lost to the Hungarian wrestler in the quarterfinal match. His official coach in the national team of the Republic of Armenia was Ruben Tatulian. According to the athlete, he is not just a coach for him, but a real friend, support, support. Mihran Harutyunyan, whose fight is the cause of his life, also maintains relations with his first coach Aram Sargsyan, although he is in Moscow. Alexander Hakobyan is helping him in matters of his physical training.

Ups and downs

After Mihran did not perform well at the World Championships in Tashkent, he was sent to represent the country at an international tournament in the city of Barnaul. This is where he took first place, right after that in Moscow at the 22nd All-Russian Tournament. Serhiy Taraskin was also given the first place by Mihran Harutyunyan. The struggle so captured him, that at first he did not even notice that he was injuring his knee. As a consequence, he could not take part in the championship of the Republic of Armenia. Rather, he expressed a desire to compete, but before the tournament began he had sharp pains, and the coaches had to call an ambulance, which took the athlete to the hospital. However, he was soon able to come back to normal and in the national team went to Baku at the European Championships, where, after conceding to the Russian wrestler, he won the second place.

Mihran Harutyunyan (wrestling): Olympics 2016

Upon his return to Armenia from neighboring Azerbaijan, the athlete began to prepare assiduously for the rating tournaments, the first of which was to be held in Las Vegas. Of course, he got the ticket, then he began to prepare himself for the Rio morally and physically. Since Miragan did not participate in the 2012 Olympics in London, very few people knew him in sports circles, and no one considered him to be the favorite and the candidate for the title of winner. Nevertheless, he confidently went to victory. First he beat the Egyptian athlete Ahmet, with the score 9: 0, then the world champions: Korean Hanso Liu and Azerbaijani athlete Rasul Chunaev. And it turned out that in the final will act Mihran Harutyunyan (fight). Rio is a city where Greco-Roman wrestling is not particularly fond of, but nevertheless many fans came to watch the final match with the participation of Armenian and Serbian athletes.

Alas ... Silver

However, the judges were unfriendly towards Mihran and awarded the first place to Stefanek. Mihran was more than disappointed, he even wanted to leave the sport forever. However, in his homeland, in Armenia, the athlete was greeted as a true champion of the Olympics, and then he decided that he still had to raise his country's flag high.