Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan

Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan ( Armenian Ալֆրեդ Տեր-Մկրտչյան / Alfred Ter-Mkrttschjan, Russian Альфред Айрапетович Тер-Мкртчян / Alfred Airapetowitsch Ter-Mkrttschjan * 19th March 1971 in Yerevan , Armenian SSR , Soviet Union ) is a German wrestler of Armenian origin. He was world champion in 1994 and silver medal winner at the Olympic Games in 1992 in the Greco-Roman style flyweight.

Career

Alfred Ter-Mkrtchjan was born in Yerevan as the son of an Armenian and a Persian. From 1985, he studied in Moscow , the rings , where he concentrated on the Greco-Roman style. His great talent quickly secured him a place in the Soviet national wrestling team, for which he successfully competed in 1990. After the collapse of the Soviet Union , he started for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992 . In the same year he became an Armenian citizen and went to the United States with his parents.

In search of a wrestling perspective, he contacted his former Soviet national team-mate Arawat Sabeev , who was already living in Germany . He recommended him to the German Wrestling Association and Ter-Mkrttschjan received German citizenship in 1993 thanks to the help of the chairman of the VfK Schifferstadt , Robert Litzenburger, who had good relations with various state bodies. From then on he called himself Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan. In Germany he initially wrestled for VfK Schifferstadt, but in the course of his career switched to KSV Köllerbach, KSV Germania Aalen and AC Heusweiler. He wrestled with a height of 1.64 meters in the flyweight . Only towards the end of his career did he also start in the next higher weight class, the bantamweight.

His sporting success on the international wrestling mat began in 1990 when he won the European junior championship (Espoirs) in flyweight. In 1990 he started at the Grand Prix of the Federal Republic of Germany in Saarbrücken and took second place in flyweight behind the 1988 Olympic champion Jon Rønningen from Norway .

In 1991, Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan moved to the senior class and took third place in the flyweight division at the European Championships in Aschaffenburg . He surprisingly failed in the semifinals against the Pole Dariusz Piaskowski . Probably also due to the good impressions that Ter-Mkrtchyan won at his starts in Saarbrücken, Aschaffenburg and his victory at the 1992 German Grand Prix in Kelheim , he later chose it as his new home.

In 1992 he won the flyweight title at the European Championships in Copenhagen , starting for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) . He defeated, among others, the German Olaf Brandt on points (8-0 technical points) and dominated the Bulgarian defending champion Bratan Zenow in the final . At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona he looked like the certain Olympic champion in the final against Jon Rønningen up to 7 seconds before the end , as he was leading 1-0 up to that point. Rønningen succeeded in literally the last second still a two-way ranking, which he the fight with 2: 1 techn. Points won and Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan had to be satisfied with the silver medal .

In September 1993 he immediately achieved bronze at the World Championships in Stockholm for the German Wrestling Federation in the flyweight division . He lost it in his pool to the 1991 world champion Raúl Martínez Alemán from Cuba in extra time after 5:42 minutes with 2: 3 techn. Points. After three wins in the consolation round, he defeated the 1993 European champion Natig Aiwasow from Azerbaijan in the so-called "small final" .

In 1994, Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan became German wrestling champion for the first time in Köllerbach - in the bantam weight (up to 57 kg) and slowly improved into his earlier form. At the European Championships in Athens in 1994 , he ended up in third place after he was narrowly inferior to his former Armenian team-mate Armen Nazarjan in the third round . He won the bronze medal with a sure 5-1 victory over the Greek Dimitris Gioltsan . In the same year he was able to celebrate his greatest success as a wrestler. At the World Championships in Tampere he won the title in front of Natig Aiwasow and Andrij Kalaschnykow from Ukraine . He celebrated victories over Senad Rizvanović , Yugoslavia (IWP) (10: 0 technical points), Armen Nasarjan (8: 1), Uchi Koji, Japan (10: 0), Khaleb Al Faraj , Syria (5: 1) and Natig Aivazov (8: 5).

In 1995 Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan failed in Besançon only in the European Championship final on his old rival Armen Nazarjan, against whom he was already 5-1 techn. Points had led before this succeeded in a sixth place that put him on the road to victory. Before that, Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan had beaten Tenio Tenew, Bulgaria 13: 0, Russia Wartanow, Lithuania and Tero Karajisto, Finland 11: 0. and at the World Championships in Prague , although not at his best, he was the winner of the bronze medal.

At the European Championships in Budapest in 1996 , Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan secured the bronze medal. He lost his first fight against Samwel Danieljan from Russia just 2: 4 techn. Points. Then he celebrated a splendid winning streak and beat Natig Aiwasow 7-0, Boris Schrulewitz, Israel decisive, Özgür Uygun , Turkey 8-1, Valentin Rebegea from Romania 7-0, Dariusz Jabłoński from Poland 4-0 and in the battle for the bronze medal the double Olympic champion Jon Rønningen with 2: 1 techn. Points. The attack on the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta went completely wrong. Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan lost indisposed his first fight against the Syrian Khaleb Al Faraj with 1: 3 technical points. In the second round he defeated Jon Rønningen, who was not in good shape, 9-0 technically. Points and in the third fight he defeated the Lithuanian Ruslan Wartanow also high with 8-0 techn. Points. Against the Ukrainian European champion from 1996 Andrij Kalaschnykow he fell behind early and finally even went on his shoulders. He ended up being beaten in ninth place.

At the 1997 European Championships in Kouvola , Oleg Kutscherenko represented the German colors in the flyweight division. Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan moved back to the German team at the 1997 World Cup in Breslau . He was in good shape and won over Haralambos Moyratidis from Greece (8: 0 technical points) and Lázaro Rivas , Cuba (4: 0), but then lost in the third round against Marian Sandu from Romania with 2: 4 technical. Points. In the consolation round he defeated Zigmunds Jansons from Latvia (5: 0), Oleg Nemtschenko , Russia (4: 0) and Ha Tae-yeon , South Korea (4: 0). In the fight for the world championship bronze medal , he met Marian Sandu again, whom he was able to defeat this time just 1-0.

In 1998 Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan became team champion for the first time with KSV Aalen . At the German individual championships, he moved up to the bantamweight class and won his third title there. At the European Championships in Minsk he was used for the first time in the bantamweight. He won his first fight against Remigius Sukavicius from Lithuania 4-0 and then defeated the defending champion Karen Mnazakanjan from Armenia on points, but then suffered a severe bruised rib in the semi-final fight against Armen Nazarjan , which hindered him this fight, so that he this fight with 0: 2 techn. Lost points. Since he couldn't continue fighting in the consolation round, he finished 6th. At the world championship this year in Gävle / Sweden he could not start.

In 1999 Ter-Mkrtchyan made a new attempt with national team and individual titles (up to 58 kg). At the European Championships in Sofia he started again in the flyweight class. He won it in his first fight over the Belarusian Aljaksandr Paulau , but then lost to Natig Aiwasow , which he was eliminated and only finished 10th.

In 2000 he won his fifth German championship , again in the 58 kilogram category. At the European Championships in Moscow, the later runner-up, Boris Ambarzumow from Russia , blocked the way to gold in the semifinals. He defeated Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan 4-0 techn. Points, but he won the "small final" in which he won Alexander Tscherswadze from Georgia with a 3-2 techn. Points defeated.

Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan's third attempt at an Olympic gold medal ended in Sydney in the quarter-finals in a fight against the eventual Olympic champion Sim Gwon-ho from South Korea . In a balanced fight he led it after the first round 3-2 techn. Points, but finally had to accept a 4: 6 point defeat. Against the Chinese Wang Hui, he then fought his way to fifth place with a superior 6-0 point win.

Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan's further sporting ambitions slowed down a knee operation at the beginning of 2001. In the further course of his career he often had injury problems. In 2001 the Bundeswehr corporal succeeded in winning the bantamweight title at the CISM military world championships in Patras .

At the World Championships in 2001 and 2002 he failed early and only finished 35th and 11th. In 2004 he also failed to qualify again for participation in the Olympic Games in Athens. When he lost in the 1st round of the German bantamweight championship in 2004 against Michael Böh from Weingarten and only finished 10th, he resigned.

Overall, however, Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan had a brilliant career. He was a gifted technician, who with his actions and throws drove the audience into storms of enthusiasm again and again.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class
1990	1.	Junior European Championship (Espoirs)	To fly	before Ismo Kamesaki, Finland a. Valentin Rebegea , Romania
1990	2.	Mälar Cup in Västerås	To fly	behind An Han-bong , South Korea, in front of Lars Rønningen , Norway
1990	2.	Grand Prix of the Federal Republic of Germany in Saarbrücken	To fly	behind Jon Rønningen , Norway, in front of Samwel Danieljan , USSR a. Senad Rizvanović , Yugoslavia
1991	3.	EM in Aschaffenburg	To fly	behind Bratan Zenow , Bulgaria a. Dariusz Piaskowski , Poland, before Željko Popović , Yugoslavia a. Rosario Schmitt , FRG
1992	1.	German Grand Prix in Kelheim	To fly	before Olaf Brandt , Germany a. Jon Rønningen
1992	1.	EM in Copenhagen	To fly	in front of Bratan Zenow , Remzi Öztürk , Turkey a. Senad Rizvanović
1992	silver	OS in Barcelona	To fly	with victories over Olaf Brandt, Khaled Al-Faraj , Syria, Min Kyung-gab , South Korea and others. Valentin Rebegea u. a loss to Jon Rønningen
1993	3.	World Cup in Stockholm	To fly	behind Raúl Martínez Alemán , Kuba u. Armen Nazarjan , Armenia, before Natig Aiwasow , Azerbaijan a. Nurum Dusenow, Kazakhstan
1994	2.	FILA Grand Prix in Camagüey / Cuba	Bantam	behind Luis Sarmiento, Cuba, in front of William Lara, Cuba
1994	3.	EM in Athens	To fly	behind arms Nazarjan u. Farhat Mageramow, Belarus, before Dimitris Gioltsan , Greece a . Andrij Kalaschnykow , Ukraine
1994	1.	World Cup in Tampere	To fly	before Natig Aiwasow , Andrij Kalaschnykow, Elgian Sarkis, Greece a. Khaled Al-Faraj (9th Poor Nazaryan )
1994	3.	FILA Grand Prix in Concord / USA	To fly	behind arms Nazarjan u. Raúl Martínez Inglés
1995	2.	EM in Besançon	To fly	behind Armen Nazarjan , in front of Andrij Kalaschnykow, Samwel Danieljan and Natig Aiwasow
1995	1.	Grand Prix of Germany in Koblenz	To fly	before Samwel Danieljan u. Zigmunds Jansons, Latvia
1995	1.	Hapoel games in Beersheba	Bantam	in front of Vitali Serbinin, Russia a. Jan Ulbrich , Germany
1995	3.	World Cup in Prague	To fly	behind Samwel Danieljan u. Armen Nazarjan , before Khaled Al-Faraj a. Shawn Sheldon , USA
1996	2.	Grand Prix of Norway in Porsgonn	Bantam	behind Kenkishi Nishimi, Japan, in front of Jan Ulbrich
1996	3.	EM in Budapest	To fly	behind Andrij Kalaschnykow u. Armen Nasarjan , before Jon Rønningen , Dariusz Jabłoński , Poland a. Ruslan Wartanov, Lithuania
1996	1.	Italian Grand Prix in Faenza	Bantam	before Ralph Zentgraf, Germany a. Luis Sarmiento
1996	9.	OS in Atlanta	To fly	with victories over Khaled Al-Faraj, Jon Rønningen u. Ruslan Wartanow et al. one defeat against Andrij Kalaschnykow (winner: Nazarjan ahead of Brandon Paulson , USA and Kalaschnykow)
1997	1.	Grand Prix of Israel in Beer Sheva	To fly	before Dariusz Jabłoński u. Aljaksandr Paulau
1997	3.	World Cup in Wroclaw	To fly	with victories over Haralambos Muyratidis, Greece a. Lázaro Rivas , Cuba, a loss to Marian Sandu , Romania a . Victories over Zigmunds Jansons, Latvia, Oleg Nemtschenko, Russia, Ha Tae-yeon , South Korea and others. Marian Sandu (1st Ercan Yıldız , Turkey before Vahan Juharjan , Armenia)
1998	7th	FILA tournament in Nikea / Greece	Bantam	after victory over Makoto Sasamoto, Japan a. Lost to Armen Nazarjan
1998	6th	EM in Minsk	Bantam	with victories over Remigius Sukevicius, Lithuania a. Karen Mnazakanjan , Armenia a. a defeat against Armen Nazarjan, then retired due to injury
1999	2.	Polish Grand Prix in Krakow	To fly	behind Dariusz Jabłoński , in front of Oleg Kutscherenko , Germany
1999	10.	EM in Sofia	To fly	with victory over Aljaksandr Paulau , Belarus a. Defeat against Natig Aivazov
2000	3.	EM in Moscow	To fly	behind Marian Sandu u. Boris Ambarzumow , Russia, before Alexander Tscherwadze, Georgia a. Sergei Sobokar, Ukraine
2000	5.	OS in Sydney	To fly	with victories over Alexander Tscherwadse a. Tero Eerik Katajsto , Finland, defeat against Sim Gwon-ho , South Korea a. Victory over Wang Chao-Li, Republic of China (Taiwan)
2001	1.	CISM military world championship in Split	Bantam	in front of Nikolai Antonkin, Russia a. Taleh Israfilov, Azerbaijan
2001	35.	World Cup in Patras / Greece	Bantam	after defeats against Armen Nazarjan a . István Majoros , Hungary
2002	1.	Grand Prix of the FRG in Dortmund	Bantam	before Michael Böh , Germany a. Dariusz Jabłoński
2002	11.	World Cup in Moscow	Bantam	with victory over Hu Kewei, China, defeat against Ashot Chachatrjan, Armenia a. Victory over Osmany Duca, Cuba
2004	2.	"Nikola Petrov" tournament in Sofia	Bantam	behind Dennis Hall , USA, in front of Nurbakyt Tengisbajew , Kazakhstan
2004	15th	Olympic qualification tournament in Novi Sad	Bantam	Winner: Brandon Paulson ahead of Ercan Yıldız u. Istvan Majoros

German championships

year	space	Weight class	Result
1994	1.	Bantam	before Juri Kohl , KSV Köllerbach u. Ralph Zentgraf, KSV Germania Aalen
1995	1.	Bantam	before Jochen Mades, KSV Sulzbach u. Peter Schauer, SV Siegfried Hallbergmoos
1998	1.	Bantam	in front of Sinan Hanli, 1. Luckenwalder SC u. Michael Böh, AV Reilingen
1999	1.	Bantam	before Sinan Hanli u. Achmetula (Albert) Nurow, KSV Köllerbach
2000	1.	Bantam	before Sinan Hanli u. Michael Böh, KSV Wiesental

Note: all competitions in the Greco-Roman style, OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship, flyweight, up to 1996 to 52 kg, from 1997 to 2001 to 54 kg, abolished in 2002, bantamweight until 1996 to 57 kg, from 1997 to 2001 up to 58 kg, since 2002 up to 55 kg body weight

literature

• Trade journal Der Ringer

Web links

• Profile of Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan at the Institute for Applied Exercise Science
• Alfred Ter-Mkrtchyan in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )