RIO DE JANEIRO—Artur Aleksanyan became the first athlete to win a gold medal for the Armenia team on Tuesday when he beat Cuba’s Yasmany Daniel Lugo Cabrera in the final round of wrestling competition at the Rio Olympics.
While receiving his gold medal Aleksanyan wore a shirt with the image of Robert Abajyan who was killed in Artsakh during the April War. “I was very upset after the April war and decided that if I became a champion I would wear this shirt. I dedicate this victory to the soldiers standing at the border and all victims of the war. As for Migran, he is my true champion and a champion for the whole world. Today, we [Armenia] would have had two gold medals,” Aleksanyan said.
Fellow wrestler Migran Arutyunyan won a silver medal.
Earlier on Tuesday, Aleksanyan defeated Turkey’s Cenk Ildem in the semifinals to advance to the finals.
Arutyunyan, 27, competed against Serbian wrestler Davor Stefanek in the finals on Tuesday, receiving Armenia’s second silver medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
He was eligible to compete for gold after defeating Azerbaijan’s Rasul Chunayev in the men’s Greco-Roman 66 kg semifinal.
Simon Martirosyan, 19, won the silver medal in the men’s 105 kg weightlifting competition on August 15 in the 2016 Olympics. He lifted 417 kg, placing second after Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Nurudinov, who won gold lifting 431 kg and setting an Olympic record.
In 2014, Martirosyan won a gold medal at the Summer Youth Olympics and a bronze medal in the 2016 European Weightlifting Championships.
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CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations. Long live Armenia
WELL DONE AND CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR PATRIOTIC HEROES
We are so proud of your victory ,all Armenian participants were incredible .
Thanks you for bringing the Armenian name up in the world.
Bravo.and big bravo.