Poor Mkrtchyan

Armen Mkrtchyan ( Armenian Արմեն Մկրտչյան ; international transcription: Armen Mkrtchyan ; born October 6, 1973 in Wedi ) is a former Armenian wrestler . He became European champion in 1994 and won a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in free style in light flyweight .

Career

Armen Mkrtchyan began wrestling as a teenager in 1986. He concentrated on the free style. During his playing days he was a member of the Ararat Veti sports club . One of his trainers was Grant Yenokjan. The 1.53 meter tall athlete always started in the lightest weight class in the men's ring. This was the half-flyweight until 1996 (up to 48 kg) and since 1997 the flyweight (up to 54 kg). After finishing his international wrestling career, he emigrated to Germany in 2002 and competed for RWG Mömbris-Königshofen for a few more years . Then he became a wrestler trainer at TV Aachen-Walheim .

At the beginning of his career Mkrtchjan started in 1990, when he took part in the Junior World Championship in Istanbul and also won the world championship there, still for the Soviet Union . But at his next international start he did that for Armenia. This was the 1992 European Junior Championships in Székesfehérvár . Armen Mkrtchyan also won the title there. In 1993 he took part in an international senior championship for the first time. He came in 5th place at the European Championships in Istanbul, where the Bulgarian Marian Nedkow won the title. In the same year he was then again title holder at the Junior World Championships in Athens before Wiktor Efteni from the Ukraine . In August 1993 he also took part in the World Championships in Toronto , where he finished 5th.

In 1994 Mkrtchjan won his first international senior title. He became European champion in Rome and defeated the German Reiner Heugabel in the final battle . At the wrestling world championship this year in Istanbul he still had to pay hardship, retired early and only finished 11th. At the European Championship in 1995 in Friborg / Switzerland, he was unable to defend his European title from 1994. He came there behind Wugar Orudschow , Russia , Laszlo Olvary , Hungary and Wiktor Efteni only on 4th place. For this he won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Atlanta behind Wugar Orudschow and Alexis Vila from Cuba .

The year 1996 was very successful for Armen Mkrtchyan. First in Budapest, behind Viktor Efteni, but before Wugar Orudschow, he was Vice European Champion and then he won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. On the way to this medal he defeated Jose Manuel Restrepo Gonzales from Colombia , Rob Eiter, United States , Alexis Vila and Vitali Railean from Moldova and in the final he suffered only one point defeat against Kim Il-ong from North Korea with 4: 5 points .

In 1997 the International Wrestling Federation (FILA) made a weight class re-classification. The half-flyweight (up to 48 kg) was completely eliminated and the flyweight (up to 54 kg) became the lightest weight class in men's wrestling. Armen Mkrtchjan didn’t get along as well in the new weight class flyweight as in the "old" light flyweight. After all, he came in at the 1998 European Championships in Bratislava with four wins and two defeats on a good 5th place. But at the 1999 World Cup in Ankara he lost to Alexander Sacharjuk from Ukraine and Tümendembereliin Dsüünbajan from Mongolia and ended up in 35th place.

At the European Championships in Budapest in 2000 he defeated Thomas Röthlisberger from Switzerland and Stanislaw Surdyka from Poland and lost to Amiran Kartanow from Greece and took 6th place. For participation in the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000 he could not qualify. At the end of his international wrestling career, Armen Mkrtchjan won another bronze medal at the 2001 European Championships in Budapest with victories over Ludek Burian, Czech Republic and Ion Blidari, Romania, a defeat against Ghenadie Tulbea , Moldova and a victory over Mevlana Kulac , Turkey.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1990	1.	Junior World Championships (Juniors) in Istanbul	up to 46 kg	ahead of Sim Kyun-ho, South Korea and Kim Song-Il, North Korea
1992	1.	Junior European Championship (Espoirs) in Székesfehérvár	Half flying	before Juri Senek, Russia, Wiktor Efteni, Ukraine and Jochen Richter, Germany
1993	5.	EM in Istanbul	Half flying	behind Marian Nedkow, Bulgaria , Ilyas Sükrüoglu , Turkey, Viktor Efteni and Reiner Heugabel , Germany
1993	1.	Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Athens	Half flying	before Wiktor Efteni, Nurdin Donbajew, Kyrgyzstan and Wladko Sokolow, Macedonia
1993	5.	World Cup in Toronto	Half flying	behind Alexis Vila Perdomo, Cuba, Wugar Orudschow, Belarus , Jung Soon-won , South Korea and Ilyas Sükrüoglu
1994	1.	EM in Rome	Half flying	in front of Reiner Heugabel, Wiktor Efteni and Laszlo Olvary, Hungary
1994	11.	World Cup in Istanbul	Half flying	Winner: Alexis Vila Perdomo ahead of Jung-Soon-won and Peter Jumschanow , Russia
1995	3.	Military World Cup	Half flying	behind Wugar Orudschow and Kim Soon-Nam, North Korea, in front of Beyhan Gülfiliz, Turkey and Reiner Heugabel
1995	4th	EM in Friborg / Switzerland	Half flying	behind Wugar Orudschow, Laszlo Olvary and Wiktor Efteni
1995	3.	World Cup in Atlanta	Half flying	behind Wugar Orudschow and Alexis Vila Perdomo, in front of Nader Rahmati, Iran and Georgi Christow, Bulgaria
1996	2.	EM in Budapest	Half flying	behind Wiktor Efteni, in front of Wugar Orudschow, Nikos Tsikuatseli, Greece and Vitali Railean, Moldova
1996	silver	OS in Atlanta	Half flying	after victories over Jose Manuel Restrepo Gonzales, Colombia , Rob Eiter, USA, Alexis Vila Perdomo and Witali Railean and a defeat against Kim Il-Ong, North Korea
1998	5.	EM in Bratislava	To fly	after a victory over Gotcha Kirkitadze, Georgia , a defeat against Amiran Kartanow , Greece, victories over Jaanek Lips, Estonia , Gheorghe Corduneanu, Romania and Mevlana Kulac, Turkey and a defeat against Murad Ramasanow , Russia
1999	35.	World Cup in Ankara	To fly	after defeats against Alexander Sacharjuk, Ukraine and Tümendembereliin Dsüünbajan , Mongolia
2000	14th	Olympic qualification tournament in Minsk	To fly	Winner: Samuel Henson , USA ahead of Meng Haibo , People's Republic of China and Herman Accountiev , Belarus
2000	6th	EM in Budapest	To fly	after victories over Thomas Röthlisberger, Switzerland and Stanislaw Surdyka, Poland and a defeat against Amiran Kartanow
2001	3.	EM in Budapest	To fly	after victories over Ludek Burian, Czech Republic and Ion Blidari, Romania, a defeat against Ghenadie Tulbea, Moldova and a victory over Mevlana Kulac

Explanations

• all free style competitions
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship
• Half-fly weight, up to 48 kg until 1996, then abolished, fly weight, from 1997 to 2001 up to 54 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Foeldeak Wrestling Database website

Web links

• Armen Mkrtchjan in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Fight of Armen Mkrtchjan (red) against Kim Il-Ong in the final of the 1996 Olympic Games