Mnazakan Frunzevich Iskandaryan

Mnazakan Iskandaryan

Mnazakan Iskandarjan ( Armenian Մնացական Իսկանդարյան ; born May 17, 1967 in Gyumri , Armenian SSR ) is a former Soviet wrestler . He became Olympic welterweight champion in Greco-Roman style in Barcelona in 1992 . After 1994 he started for Russia .

Career

Mnazakan Iskandarjan began as a teenager in 1978 in Gyumri with the wrestling, where he was mainly trained by Korjun Mousisjan. He concentrated entirely on the Greco-Roman style. He initially wrestled in lightweight, then up to 68 kg body weight, and later switched to welterweight, then up to 74 kg body weight.

He achieved his first major success on the international wrestling mat in 1987 when he became lightweight junior world champion (Espoirs) in Vancouver ( Burnaby ) . In the next few years he first had to assert himself against the toughest competition in the Soviet Union in order to get further assignments at international championships. Above all, he dealt with Islam Dugushiev , Levon Dschulfalakjan , Mikhail Mamiashvili , Daulet Turlykhanov and Bissolt Deziev .

In 1989 he was used at the European lightweight championship in Oulu . He fought his way up to the final, in which he was defeated by the Hungarian Attila Repka on points and thus became vice- European champion .

In 1990 he switched to the welterweight division and started at the World Championships in Ostia for the Soviet Union, after he had ousted the 1989 world champion Daulet Turlychanow from the team. There he justified his commitment, as he was with wins over Anton Marchl from Austria , Erol Koyuncu from Turkey , Han Chi-Ho of South Korea , John Morgan from the United States, Zeliko Trajkovic from Yugoslavia , Jozef Tracz from Poland and Dobri Marinov from Bulgaria new world champion.

This was followed by the two most successful years in the career of Mnazakan Iskandarjan. In 1991 he was first European welterweight champion in Aschaffenburg , defeating Tuomo Karila from Finland and Torbjörn Kornbakk from Sweden in the decisive fights , then he was again world champion in the same weight class in Varna in the same year . Here he defeated Jaroslaw Zeman from Czechoslovakia in the final battle .

At the European Championships in Copenhagen in 1992 he lost the final fight against Mircea Constantin from Romania in the welterweight division . A little later, however, it turned out that Constantin was doped, whereupon the European Championship gold medal was withdrawn from him and Mnazakan Iskandarjan was declared European champion in 1992 welterweight. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona , he started for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) after the political upheavals in the Soviet Union . He was well prepared and successively defeated Travis West from the United States, Janus Takacs from Hungary , Karlo Kasap from Canada , Néstor Almanza from Cuba , Yvon Riemer from France and in the final Jozef Tracz, his old Polish competitor, just 6: 4 points and became Olympic welterweight champion. That was his fifth win in a row in an international championship.

After taking a break in 1993, he decided not to go back to his homeland Armenia in 1994 , but to start for Russia . He was also used for this country at the 1994 World Cup in Tampere , where he became world champion for the third time in his career, ahead of Jozef Tracz, Torbjörn Kornbakk, Stojan Dobrew from Bulgaria and Mircea Constantin, who had served a two-year doping ban.

In the following years, when he was still active, he could no longer build on these great successes. So he lost at the 1995 World Cup in Prague against Yvon Riemer from France and in the battle for the bronze medal against Filiberto Ascuy Aguilera from Cuba, who downright outclassed him with 12-0 points. Even at the European Championships in Budapest in 1996 he could no longer prevail and only came in 6th place, where he was defeated in the fight for 5th place by Torbjörn Kornbakk.

At his last start at an international championship, the Olympic Games in Atlanta , he lost again after two victories against Filiberto Ascuy Aguilera, if only just with 4: 5 points. But then he also lost to the German Erik Hahn , with 5: 8 points, and was then only able to fight for 5th place with a victory over Artur Dsihassow from the Ukraine .

He then ended his career as an active wrestler. He became the coach of the Russian junior national wrestling team in Greco-Roman style and acted as head coach of the Russian senior national team of wrestlers in Greco-Roman style for the first time at the 2008 Beijing Olympics .

Mnazakan Iskandarjan is also known to many German wrestling fans because he played for RWG Mömbris - Königshofen and KSV 07 Witten in the German Bundesliga for several years in the 1990s . He was inducted into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame in August 2012 for his services to wrestling .

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Result
1987	1.	Junior World Championships (Espoirs) in Vancouver	Light	before Markus Pittner, Austria , Wasil Atanasow, Bulgaria , Lars Lagerborg, Sweden and Attila Repka , Hungary
1987	10.	FILA Grand Prix Gala in Budapest	Light	Winner: Alaudin Abajew, USSR ahead of Jerzy Kopanski , Poland a . Petre Cărare , Romania
1988	1.	World Cup in Athens	Light	before Alexis Jimenez, Cuba a . Andrew Seras, USA
1989	2.	EM in Oulu	Light	behind Attila Repka u. in front of Jukka Loikas, Finland a . Ghani Yalouz , France
1990	1.	Mälar Cup in Västerås	Welter	before Jozef Tracz , Poland a. Torbjörn Kornbakk , Sweden
1990	1.	World Cup in Ostia	Welter	with victories over Anton Marchl , Austria, Erol Koyuncu , Turkey , Han Chi-Ho, South Korea , John Morgan, USA, Zeliko Trajkovic , Yugoslavia , Jozef Tracz u. Dobri Marinow , Bulgaria
1991	1.	EM in Aschaffenburg	Welter	in front of Tuomo Karila , Finland, Torbjörn Kornbakk, János Takács , Hungary a. Yvon Riemer , France
1991	1.	World Cup in Varna	Welter	before Jaroslaw Zeman , CSSR , Yvon Riemer , Mircea Constantin , Romania a. Jozef Tracz
1992	1.	Grand Rix tournament	Welter	before Yvon Riemer u. Anton Marchl
1992	1.	EM in Copenhagen	Welter	before Yvon Riemer , Erhan Balci , Turkey, János Takács u. Torbjörn Kornbakk (originally Mnazakan Iskandarjan lost the final fight against Mircea Constantin, since he was doped, he subsequently moved from 2nd to 1st place)
1992	1.	Grand Prix of Germany in Kelheim	Welter	before Yvon Riemer , Anton Marchl, Mario Lauer, BRD a. Jaroslaw Zeman
1992	gold	OS in Barcelona	Welter	with victories over Travis West, USA, Janos Takacs, Karlo Kasap, Canada , Néstor Almanza , Cuba , Yvon Riemer u. Jozef Tracz
1994	1.	World Cup in Tampere	Welter	in front of Jozef Tracz, Torbjörn Kornbakk , Stojan Dobrew, Bulgaria a. Mircea Constantin
1995	4th	World Cup in Prague	Welter	behind Yvon Riemer , Bachtiar Baiseitow , Kazakhstan , Filiberto Ascuy Aguilera , Cuba, in front of Mircea Constantin u. Erik Hahn , Germany
1996	6th	EM in Budapest	Welter	behind Nazmi Avluca , Turkey, Wladimir Kopytow , Belarus , Erik Hahn , Artur Dsihassow , Ukraine u. Torbjörn Kornbakk
1996	5.	OS in Atlanta	Welter	with victories over Antonio Nestor Garcia, Venezuela a . Kim Jin-soo , South Korea , defeats to Filiberto Ascuy Aguilera u. Erik Hahn et al. a victory over Artur Dzihassow

Explanations

• all competitions in Greco-Roman style
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship
• Lightweight, up to 68 kg, welter weight, up to 74 kg body weight

swell

• Database of the Institute for Applied Training Sciences at the University of Leipzig,
• Trade journal Der Ringer ,
• Armenian Olympic Committee website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ USA's Dan Gable among seven to be inducted to FILA Hall of Fame in London, England, August 3 , accessed April 16, 2017

Web links

• Profile of Mnazakan Frunsewitsch Iskandarjan at the Institute for Applied Training Science