Hye Marzig was launched 4 years ago on the eve of the London 2012 Olympics, and we're still going strong on the eve of Rio 2016!

Here is everything you need to know if you're keeping track of our Armenian Olympians the next couple of weeks.

Rio 2016's Official Website has shared the following link for Armenia and its athletes:

Rio 2016 Team Armenia Link

Wikipedia even has a page up showing who will be competing in which sport:

Wiki Team Armenia Link

One of our best shots at a medal is of course Arsen Julfalakyan, the former world gold medalist and Olympic silver medalist. He'll be competing in the 75kg class, which kicks off on August 13th. Here's some recent footage of Arsen going toe-to-toe with Vlasov of Russia, with Arsen winning the Silver:

Artur Aleksanyan of Gyumri is another world class wrestler to keep your eye out for:

Finally, as reported a few weeks ago, Armenia will also have gymnasts this year!

Good luck to all of our Armenian Olympians the next couple of weeks, we are all so proud of them! Keep a look out for more updates shortly!

Armenian Athletes at 2016 Rio Olympics

We're back after a long hiatus, and not a moment too soon!

We are now 3 months away from the Summer Olympics in Rio, and the initial lists of qualifying Armenian athletes has been released by Armenia's IOC:

Armenian Athletes Qualifying for Rio Olympics

We will do an update when the Official Rio webpage updates the list of Armenian athletes.

A majority of Armenia's athletes are in boxing and weightlifting; however, Armenia has its first ever qualifiers in gymnastics, too. We will also be updating in the upcoming weeks with athlete profiles.

Here is Armenia's all time medal count in the 5 summer Olympics in which it has participated:

Armenia (ARM)

1

(G) 2

(S) 9

(B) 12 (TOTAL)

 Here's to adding to this total this summer!



                                 

USA Women's Gymnastics Coach Artur Akopyan

One of the American Olympic gymnasts - McKayla Maroney - is coached by Artur Akopyan. The below excerpt comes courtesy of one our followers, to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude for this timely contribution:

 

McKayla is one of the 5 members of the team that is favored to win the team gold. The U.S. team (of which McKayla was a member) won the 2011 world championships as a team, so they are the reigning world champions going into the Olympics. More importantly for McKayla (and Artur) is that McKayla is the reigning individual world champion on vault and is also favored to win an individual gold medal on vault at these Olympics. He has therefore coached her to a team gold (where each gymnast has her own coach) and an individual vault gold, both at the 2011 world championships. Also, she is favored to win team gold (again, every gymnast has her own coach) and an individual vault gold during these Olympics. The team competes on Tuesday, and the vault event final is on Sunday.

 

If you'd like to read further about McKayla, please follow these two links: 

McKayla Maroney

 

McKayla Maroney Profile

As for Artur Akopyan, he qualified for the 1980 and 1984 Olympics as a member of Team USSR, but was unable to compete in either for reasons he details in the video attached to the right. Akopyan has coached the other U.S. National team members for years, and now runs his own gym.

 

Akopyan Video

 

 

Akopyan's Gym