Armenia at the 2016 Summer Olympics explained

Noc:ARM
Nocname:National Olympic Committee of Armenia
Games:Summer Olympics
Year:2016
Website: 
Location:Rio de Janeiro
Competitors:32
Sports:8
Flagbearer:Vahan Mkhitaryan[1]
Rank:42
Gold:1
Silver:3
Bronze:0
Appearances:auto
App Begin Year:1996
See also: (1900–1912)
(1952–1988)
(1992)

Armenia competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. It was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.

The National Olympic Committee of Armenia fielded a team of 32 athletes, 24 men and 8 women, across eight different sports at the Games.[2] [3] It was the nation's largest ever team sent to the Olympics, tying the record with the number of athletes achieved in Atlanta two decades earlier. The Armenian roster also highlighted its first ever female artistic gymnast, as well as the most female participation in its Olympic history.

Of the 32 participants, five of them competed at London 2012, including Greco-Roman wrestlers Arsen Julfalakyan (74 kg), who succeeded his father and head coach Levon to ascend the podium by taking the silver medal, and Artur Aleksanyan, who won a bronze in the heavyweight category, and later emerged himself as the reigning world champion twice (2013 and 2015). Other notable Armenian athletes featured American-born gymnast Houry Gebeshian, rifle shooter and 2014 Youth Olympic medalist Hrachik Babayan, and freestyle swimmer Vahan Mkhitaryan, who was selected by the committee to lead his delegation as the flag bearer in the opening ceremony.[1] [4]

Armenia left Rio de Janeiro with four medals (one gold and three silver), being considered its most successful Olympics since 1996.[5] Among the nation's medalists were weightlifters Simon Martirosyan and Gor Minasyan, who each obtained silver in their respective weight categories, and Aleksanyan, who made history as Armenia's first ever Olympic champion after two decades, adding a gold to his career treasury of two world and three European titles.[6] [7]

Competitors

width=180Sportwidth=55Menwidth=55Womenwidth=55Total
Athletics1 4 5
Boxing5 0 5
Gymnastics2 1 3
Judo1 0 1
Shooting1 0 1
Swimming1 1 2
Weightlifting5 2 7
Wrestling8 0 8
Total 24 8 32

Athletics

See main article: Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Armenian athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event):[8] [9]

Track & road events
AthleteEventHeat SemifinalFinal
ResultRankResultRankResultRank
Gayane Chiloyanalign=left rowspan=2Women's 200 m25.038Did not advance
Diana Khubeseryan25.167Did not advance
Lilit HarutyunyanWomen's 400 m hurdles1:03.137Did not advance
Field events
AthleteEventQualificationFinal
DistancePositionDistancePosition
Levon AghasyanMen's triple jump15.5436Did not advance
Amaliya SharoyanWomen's long jump5.9518Did not advance

Boxing

See main article: Boxing at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Armenia entered five boxers to compete in each of the following weight classes into the Olympic boxing tournament. Artur Hovhannisyan, Narek Abgaryan, Aram Avagyan, and Vladimir Margaryan had claimed their Olympic spots at the 2016 European Qualification Tournament in Samsun, Turkey.[10] Meanwhile, light welterweight boxer Hovhannes Bachkov secured an additional place on the Armenian roster with his semifinal triumph at the 2016 APB and WSB Olympic Qualifier in Vargas, Venezuela.[11]

AthleteEventRound of 32Round of 16QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Artur HovhannisyanMen's light flyweight
L 0–3
Did not advance
Narek AbgaryanMen's flyweight
W 2–1

L 0–3
Did not advance
Aram AvagyanMen's bantamweight
W 2–1

L 0–3
Did not advance
Hovhannes BachkovMen's light welterweight
W 2–1

L 1–2
Did not advance
Vladimir MargaryanMen's welterweight
W 3–0

L
Did not advance

Gymnastics

See main article: Gymnastics at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Artistic

Armenia entered three artistic gymnasts into the Olympic competition, including a first female Armenian gymnast. Harutyun Merdinyan had claimed his Olympic spot in the men's apparatus and all-around events at the 2015 World Championships, while two-time Olympian Artur Davtyan performed the same feat, as well as Houry Gebeshian in the women's at the Olympic Test Event in Rio de Janeiro.[12] [13]

Men
AthleteEventQualificationFinal
ApparatusTotalRankApparatusTotalRank
Artur DavtyanVault14.56614.56611Did not advance
Harutyun MerdinyanPommel horse15.58315.5834 Q14.93314.9337
Women

Judo

See main article: Judo at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Armenia qualified one judoka for the men's extra-lightweight category (60 kg) at the Games. London 2012 Olympian Hovhannes Davtyan was ranked among the top 22 eligible judokas for men in the IJF World Ranking List of 30 May 2016.[14]

Shooting

See main article: Shooting at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Armenia received an invitation from ISSF to send 2014 Youth Olympic silver medalist Hrachik Babayan in the men's rifle events to the Olympics, as long as the minimum qualifying score (MQS) was met by 31 March 2016.[15]

Qualification Legend: Q = Qualify for the next round; q = Qualify for the bronze medal (shotgun)

Swimming

See main article: Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Armenia received a Universality invitation from FINA to send two swimmers (one male and one female) to the Olympics.[16] [17] [18]

AthleteEventHeatSemifinalFinal
TimeRankTimeRankTimeRank
Vahan MkhitaryanMen's 50 m freestyle23.5047Did not advance
Monika VasilyanWomen's 50 m freestyleDid not advance

Weightlifting

See main article: Weightlifting at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Armenian weightlifters have qualified five men's and two women's quota places for the Rio Olympics based on their combined team standing by points at the 2014 and 2015 IWF World Championships. The team must allocate these places to individual athletes by 20 June 2016.[19]

Men
AthleteEventSnatchClean & JerkTotalRank
ResultRankResultRank
Andranik Karapetyan−77 kg1742195174
Arakel Mirzoyan−85 kg158=10158
Simon Martirosyan−105 kg190=42272417
Ruben Aleksanyanalign=left rowspan=2+105 kg195=424524404
Gor Minasyan2102241=4451
Women
AthleteEventSnatchClean & JerkTotalRank
ResultRankResultRank
Nazik Avdalyan−69 kg107513552425
Sona Poghosyan−75 kg97111261022310

Wrestling

See main article: Wrestling at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Armenia qualified a total of eight wrestlers for each of the following weight classes into the Olympic competition. Three of them finished among the top six to book Olympic spots each in the men's freestyle 125 kg and men's Greco-Roman (66 & 98 kg) at the 2015 World Championships, while two additional licenses were awarded to Armenian wrestlers, who progressed to the top two finals in men's freestyle 57 kg at the 2016 European Qualification Tournament.[20] [21]

Three further wrestlers had claimed the remaining Olympic slots to round out the Armenian roster at the initial meet of the World Qualification Tournament in Ulaanbaatar.[22]

On 11 May 2016, United World Wrestling awarded an additional Olympic license to Armenia in men's freestyle 65 kg, as a response to the doping violations for both the Polish and Ukrainian wrestler at the European Qualification Tournament.[23]

Men's freestyle
AthleteEventQualificationRound of 16QuarterfinalSemifinalRepechage 1Repechage 2Final /
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Garnik Mnatsakanyan−57 kg
L 0–4 ST
Did not advance20
David Safaryan−65 kg
L 1–3 PP
Did not advance18
Georgy Ketoyev−97 kg
L 1–3 PP
Did not advance14
Levan Berianidze−125 kg
W 3–1 PP

W 3–1 PP

L 1–3 PP

L 1–3 PP
5
Men's Greco-Roman
AthleteEventQualificationRound of 16QuarterfinalSemifinalRepechage 1Repechage 2Final /
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Migran Arutyunyan−66 kg
W 9–0 ST

W 2–1 PP

W 4–1 PP

L 1–1 PP
Arsen Julfalakyan−75 kg
L 1–3 PP
Did not advance13
Maksim Manukyan−85 kg
L 0–3 PO
Did not advance16
Artur Aleksanyan−98 kg
W 3–1 PP

W 8–0 ST

W 9–0 ST

W 3–0 PO

Notes and References

  1. News: Swimmer Vahan Mkhitaryan to be Armenia's flag bearer at Rio 2016. Armenpress. 21 July 2016. Yerevan.
  2. News: The line-up of the Armenian Rio 2016 Olympic team. National Olympic Committee of Armenia. 19 July 2016. 30 October 2016.
  3. News: Armenia names 33 athletes for Rio 2016 Olympic Games. PanARMENIAN.Net. 19 July 2016. 30 October 2016.
  4. News: Swimmer Vahan Mkhitaryan chosen as Armenia's Olympic flag-bearer. PanARMENIAN.Net. 21 July 2016. 30 October 2016.
  5. News: Armenia Finishes With Four Medals at Rio 2016 Olympics. Armenian Weekly. 21 August 2016. 30 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20171009042432/https://armenianweekly.com/2016/08/21/armenia-finishes-with-four/. 9 October 2017. dead.
  6. News: Artur Aleksanyan Wins Armenia's First Gold Medal at Rio 2016. Armenian Weekly. 16 August 2016. 30 October 2016.
  7. News: Gor Minasyan wins silver, secures Armenia's 4th Olympic medal. PanARMENIAN.Net. 17 August 2016. 30 October 2016.
  8. Web site: iaaf.org – Top Lists. IAAF. 18 April 2015.
  9. Web site: IAAF Games of the XXX Olympiad – Rio 2016 Entry Standards. IAAF. 18 April 2015.
  10. News: Azerbaijan's Yana Alekseevna delivers an inspired performance as Europe's top boxers book places at Rio 2016. AIBA. 16 April 2016. 16 April 2016.
  11. News: Semi-Final day at the APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Event in Venezuela confirms 16 Rio 2016 quota places. AIBA. 8 July 2016. 8 July 2016.
  12. News: Rio 2016 Olympic qualifiers in Men's Artistic Gymnastics: See the updated list!. FIG. 16 April 2016. 18 April 2016.
  13. News: Rio 2016 Olympic qualifiers in Women's Artistic Gymnastics: See the updated list!. FIG. 17 April 2016. 18 April 2016.
  14. News: IJF Officially Announces Qualified Athletes for Rio 2016 Olympic Games. 23 June 2016. International Judo Federation. 24 June 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160707205937/http://www.intjudo.eu/News/cikk3913. 7 July 2016. dead.
  15. Web site: Quota Places by Nation and Number. 30 May 2016. www.issf-sports.org/. ISSF. 30 May 2016.
  16. Web site: Swimming World Rankings . . 14 March 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110106131744/http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=805 . 6 January 2011.
  17. News: Rio 2016 – FINA Swimming Qualification System . . . 23 January 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150221025939/http://www.fina.org/H2O/docs/events/rio2016/2014-07%20-%20Rio%202016%20-%20Qualification%20System%20-%20FINAL%20-%20Swimming%20-%20EN.pdf . 21 February 2015.
  18. News: Record-Number of Armenian Athletes to Compete at Rio Olympics. Armenian Weekly. 13 July 2016. 15 July 2016.
  19. Web site: Rio 2016 Weightlifting – List of Athletes by Bodyweight Category. International Weightlifting Federation. 21 July 2016.
  20. News: Wrestling for Rio 2016. 19 September 2015. United World Wrestling.
  21. News: Fifteen Armenian wrestlers to fight for medals and Rio Olympics qualification. ARKA News Agency. 7 September 2015. 8 September 2015.
  22. News: William. May. Uzbekistan, Sweden Double Up in Bronze Medal Playoffs at 1st World OG Qualifier. 22 April 2016. 22 April 2016. United World Wrestling. https://web.archive.org/web/20160816154624/https://unitedworldwrestling.org/article/uzbekistan-sweden-double-up-in-bronze-medal-playoffs-at-1st-world-og-qualifier. 16 August 2016. dead.
  23. News: Adjustments to Olympic Qualifiers Announced. 11 May 2016. United World Wrestling. https://web.archive.org/web/20160805134918/https://unitedworldwrestling.org/article/adjustments-to-olympic-qualifiers-announced. 5 August 2016. dead.