Mchitar Manukjan

Mchitar Manukjan

Mchitar Rasmikowitsch Manukjan (born September 20, 1973 in Leninakan, Soviet Union (now Gyumri , Armenia )) is a wrestler who competed for the Soviet Union, Armenia and Kazakhstan . He became world featherweight champion in 1998 and 1999 and won a bronze medal in lightweight in 2004 , both in Greco-Roman style.

Career

Mchitar Manukjan, of Armenian descent, grew up in Leninakan and began wrestling there in 1983 with his brother Samwel Manukjan , who was one year younger than him . He concentrated on the Greco-Roman style. His first important coach was Yuri Karapetjan. In 1988, at the age of 15, he lost his parents and a sister who were killed in the severe earthquake in Armenia . With the help of his fellow athletes, he was able to survive this difficult time.

1990 began his international wrestling career when he, starting for the Soviet Union, in the weight class up to 50 kg junior world champion (age group Juniors) before Dariusz Jabłoński , Poland, and Iliuță Dăscălescu, Romania. In 1991 he repeated this success in Barcelona in the weight class up to 58 kg.

After the political changes in the Soviet Union, he started working for his home country Armenia in 1993. This year he took part in the European Championships in Istanbul and missed a medal in featherweight with a 4th place behind Sergei Martynow , Russia, Jenő Bódi , Hungary, and Georgi Saskawez, Belarus. At the Junior World Championships 1993 (age group Espoirs) in Athens he came in featherweight behind Juri Solomatin, Russia, and Plamen Tschukanow, Bulgaria, on the 3rd place.

1994 was not a good year for Mchitar Manukjan, because that year he finished 13th at the European Championships in Athens and only 16th at the World Championships in Tampere. The result of the 1995 European Championship in Besançon turned out to be a little better for him. He came there in featherweight on the 8th place. At the 1995 World Cup in Prague he had overcome his form crisis, because he won the bronze medal in featherweight behind Sergei Martynow and Włodzimierz Zawadzki , Poland. That was the first international medal he won among the seniors.

He then won a bronze medal at the European Championships in Budapest in 1996. Only Sergei Martynow and Hrihorij Kamyshenko from Ukraine placed in front of him . His dream of an Olympic medal did not come true at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He won a featherweight victory over Hu Guohong, China, then lost to Kamyshenko, won against Usama Aziz, Sweden, and Choi Sang-pil , South Korea. Another defeat against Akif Pirim , which was quite close with 4: 6 points, threw him out of the fight for the medals. With a victory over Sergei Martynow without a fight, he could only come in 7th place.

After the 1996 Olympic Games, Mchitar Manukjan received an offer from Däulet Turlychanow , the Kazakh wrestler boss, to move to Kazakhstan. For economic reasons he accepted this offer and started working for Kazakhstan in 1997. In 1997 he was Asian featherweight champion for this country in front of Yasutoshi Motoki, Japan, and Park Sin-young, South Korea. At the 1997 World Cup in Wrocław, he delivered good fights in featherweight again. He lost his first fight against Nikolai Monow from Russia there at featherweight , but then came to victories over Martin Kolar, Slovakia, David S. Zuñiga , United States, Jurij Mirutenka, Belarus, Mátyás Megyes, Hungary, and Akaki Chachua , Georgia . In the fight for a place in the final, he was defeated by the 1996 Olympic champion, Włodzimierz Zawadzki, just 2: 3 points. With a victory over Juan Luis Maren Delis from Cuba, he then fought his way to 5th place.

In 1998 Mchitar Manukjan drove well prepared for the world championship in Gävle / Sweden. This paid off because he became the new world champion there with victories over Bahodir Qurbonov , Uzbekistan, Kevin Bracken, United States, Choi Sang-sun, South Korea, and Şeref Eroğlu , Turkey, whom he defeated 3-0 points in the final. After he had become Asian featherweight champion in Tashkent in May 1999 in front of Bahodir Qurbonov and Lee Tae-ho, South Korea, he repeated his 1998 triumph at the World Championships in Athens in September 1999. To do this, he needed victories over Tai Chien-Chou, Taiwan, Raynard Mouton, South Africa, Włodzimierz Zawadzki, Hrihorij Kamyshenko, Bahodir Qurbonov and in the final again over Şeref Eroğlu (4-0 victory).

In the period that followed, Mchitar Manukjan was repeatedly plagued by serious injuries, which made targeted preparation for the championships almost impossible in the 2000 Olympic year of all places. This was already noticeable at the Asian Cup in Seoul in 2000, where he only came fourth in the featherweight division behind Bahodir Qurbonov, Lee Tae-ho and Yi Shanjan, China. At the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 he first came to a victory over Yassine Djakrir, Algeria, but then lost to Juan Luis Maren Delis and was then only able to fight for 7th place with a victory over Gurbinder Singh from India. As a two-time world champion, that was of course a disappointment for him.

In 2001 he had to undergo several operations because of his injuries. After that, he found it difficult to get back into shape at first. This was also shown by the results of 2002 and 2003. In those years he could not win any medals at the international championships. In addition, he could no longer bring the weight for the featherweight and had to start in the lightweight, which has reached a body weight of 66 kg since 2002.

After a disappointing 24th place at the 2003 World Cup in Créteil, Mchitar Manukjan managed to get in so good shape that he won the Olympic Games in Athens lightweight on his third attempt with victories over Jannis Zamanduridis , Germany. against whom his win was relatively close with 3: 2 points, Konstantinos Arkoudeas, Greece, and Oscar Wood, United States, a defeat against Şeref Eroğlu and a win over Jimmy Samuelsson , Sweden, whom he clearly defeated 8: 1 points, finally an Olympic medal, the bronze one, could win.

Then he ended his active wrestling career. After completing a sports degree, he became the coach of the Kazakh national wrestling team in the Greco-Roman style in 2005.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1990	1.	Junior World Championships (Juniors) in Tel Aviv	up to 50 kg	before Dariusz Jabłoński, Poland and Iliuță Dăscălescu, Romania
1991	1.	Junior World Championships (Juniors) in Barcelona	up to 58 kg	before Miguel A. Sierra, Spain and Plamen Tschukanow, Bulgaria
1993	4th	EM in Istanbul	feather	behind Sergei Martynow, Russia, Jenő Bódi, Hungary and Georgi Saskawez, Belarus
1993	3.	Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Athens	feather	behind Juri Solomatin, Russia and Plamen Tschukanow
1994	13.	EM in Athens	Light	Winner: Attila Repka , Hungary, ahead of Ghani Yalouz , France and Islam Dugutschijew , Russia
1994	16.	World Cup in Tampere	feather	Winner: Sergei Martynow ahead of Iwan Radnew, Bulgaria and Włodzimierz Zawadzki, Poland
1994	2.	FILA gala in Concord / USA	feather	behind Juan Luis Maren Delis, Cuba, in front of Dennis Hall and James Gruenwald, both USA
1995	8th.	EM in Besançon	feather	Winner: Włodzimierz Zawadzki ahead of Sergei Martynow and Ihar Petrenka , Belarus
1995	3.	World Cup in Prague	feather	behind Sergei Martynow and Włodzimierz Zawadzki
1996	3.	EM in Budapest	feather	behind Sergei Martynow and Hrihorij Kamyshenko, Ukraine
1996	7th	OS in Atlanta	feather	after a victory over Hu Guohong, China, a defeat against Hrihorij Kamyshenko, victories over Usama Aziz, Sweden and Cho Sang-sun, South Korea, a defeat against Akif Pirif, Turkey and a non-fighting victory over Sergei Martynov
1997	1.	Asian Championship	feather	in front of Yasutoshi Motoki, Japan and Park Sin-young, South Korea
1997	3.	East Asian Championship in Pusan	Light	behind Son Sang-pil , South Korea and Katsuhito Nagata, Japan
1997	5.	World Cup in Wrocław	feather	after a defeat against Nikolai Monow, Russia, victories over Martin Kolar, Slovakia, David S. Zuñiga, USA, Jurij Mirutenka, Belarus, Mátyás Megyes, Hungary and Akaki Chochua, Georgia, a defeat against Włodzimierz Zawadzki and a victory over Juan Luis Maren Delis, Cuba
1997	1.	East Asia Cup in Bangkok	Light	before Babak Karimzadeh, Iran and Chen Lin, Taiwan
1998	1.	FILA test tournament in Nikea	feather	before Michael Beilin , Israel, Aljaksej Panisch, Belarus and Nurlan Koischaiganow, Kazakhstan
1998	1.	World Cup in Gaevle / Sweden	feather	after victories over Bahodir Qurbonov , Uzbekistan, Kevin Bracken, USA, Cho Sang-sun and Şeref Eroğlu, Turkey
1998	2.	Asia Games	Light	behind Son Sang-pil, in front of Grigori Pulyayev, Uzbekistan
1999	1.	Asian Championship in Tashkent	feather	before Bahodir Qurbonov and Lee Tae-ho, South Korea
1999	1.	World Cup in Athens	feather	after victories over Tai Chien-Chou, Taiwan, Raynard Mouton, South Africa, Włodzimierz Zawadzki, Hrihorij Kamyshenko, Bahodir Qurbonov and Şeref Eroğlu
2000	4th	Asian Cup in Seoul	feather	behind Bahodir Qurbonov, Lee Tae-ho and Yi Shanjun, China
2000	7th	OS in Sydney	feather	after defeating Yassine Djakrir, Algeria, defeating Juan Luis Maren Delis and defeating Gurbinder Singh, India
2002	8th.	Asia Games in Busan	Light	Winner: Kim In-sub , South Korea ahead of Danijar Kobonow , Kyrgyzstan
2003	5.	Asian Championship in New Delhi	Light	Winner: Parviz Zaidvand, Iran ahead of Gurbinder Singh
2003	24.	World Cup in Créteil	Light	after defeating Mohamed Barguaoui, Tunisia and losing to Ryszard Wolny , Poland
2003	1.	World Cup in Alma-Ata	Light	in front of Maxim Semjonow, Russia, Şeref Tüfenk, Turkey and Manuchar K Wirkwelia , Georgia
2004	4th	Olympic qualification tournament in Novi Sad	Light	behind Nikolaj Gergow , Bulgaria, Parviz Zaidvand and Ambako Watschadze , Russia
2004	bronze	OS in Athens	Light	after victories over Jannis Zamanduridis, Germany, Konstantinos Arkoudeas, Greece and Oscar Wood, USA, a defeat against Şeref Eroğlu and a win over Jimmy Samuelsson, Sweden

Explanations

• all competitions in Greco-Roman style
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship EM = European Championship
• Featherweight, up to 1996 up to 62 kg, from 1997 to 2001 up to 63 kg,
• Lightweight, from 1997 to 2001 up to 69 kg, since 2002 up to 66 kg

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Foeldeak wrestling Database website

Web links

• Mchitar Manukjan in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Fight of Mchitar Manukjan (blue) against Jimmy Samuelsson at the 2004 Olympic Games