ATHLETES from Armenia

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Armenian Athletes of all time. This list of famous Armenian Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Armenian Athletes.

1. Yurik Vardanyan (1956 - 2018)

With an HPI of 45.20, Yurik Vardanyan is the most famous Armenian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages on wikipedia.

Yuri Norayrovich Vardanyan (Russian: Юрий Норайрович Варданян; Armenian: Յուրի Վարդանյան, also transliterated Yurik Vardanian, 13 June 1956 – 1 November 2018) was a Soviet Armenian weightlifter. Vardanyan won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world's first weightlifter to achieve a 400 kilogram total in the 82.5 kg weight category. During his career he set several world records. He trained at Lokomotiv in Leninakan, Armenia. He earned the title Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1977 and was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1985. In 1994 he was elected a member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame. In 2009 Vardanyan became an advisor to President Serzh Sargsyan's and was appointed Minister of Sports in May 2013. In June, he was controversially appointed Armenia's ambassador to Georgia.

2. Robert Emmiyan (1965 - )

With an HPI of 44.32, Robert Emmiyan is the 2nd most famous Armenian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Robert Emmiyan (Armenian: Ռոբերտ Էմմիյան; born 15 February 1965 in Leninakan, Armenian SSR) is a retired long jumper who represented the USSR and Armenia. He is the fourth best long jumper in history and the best long jumper not of African descent. His personal best jump of 8.86 metres, which he achieved in Tsaghkadzor in May 1987, is the current European record. Emmiyan received the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR award in 1987. An annual track and field meeting in Artashat, Armenia, has been held in his honour since 2001 – the Emmiyan Cup.

3. Anna Chicherova (1982 - )

With an HPI of 41.05, Anna Chicherova is the 3rd most famous Armenian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Anna Vladimirovna Chicherova (Russian: Анна Владимировна Чичерова; born 22 July 1982) is a Russian high jumper. She was the gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and was originally awarded a bronze medal in the event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, which was later stripped for doping. She was also runner-up at the World Championships in 2007 and 2013, as well as the bronze medalist in 2015. In May 2016, it was reported that a retest of samples from the 2008 Games had found 31 positive findings for performance-enhancing drugs. One of those positive tests was admitted by her coach to belong to Chicherova. On 6 October 2016, the IOC confirmed that Chicherova had failed a doping test, due to the presence of turinabol in her 2008 sample, and stripped her of her bronze medal. The medal was ultimately reallocated to original 6th place finisher Chaunte Lowe, as the 4th and 5th place high jumpers in that final tested positive for their retests as well. Chicherova's World Championship silver medal was later stripped. On 23 July 2018, the day after returning to a national competition to jump 1.90 m, the permission was granted, and Chicherova asked the IAAF to be able to participate in the 2018 European Athletics Championships. At the beginning of 2019, she jumped 2.01 indoors twice, three days apart. At age 36, those jumps both equalled the Masters W35 World Record, though because they were indoors, they will not be recognized as the record. In September 2019, Chicherova along with Elena Lashmanova was refused clearance for the IAAF World Athletics Championships.

4. Igor Tselovalnikov (1944 - 1986)

With an HPI of 40.57, Igor Tselovalnikov is the 4th most famous Armenian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Ihor Vasilyevich Tselovalnikov (Russian: Игорь Васильевич Целовальников; Ukrainian: Ігор Васильович Целовальніков; 2 January 1944 – 17 March 1986) was a Soviet cyclist. He competed at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics in the 2000 m tandem sprint and finished in fifth and first place, respectively. Tselovalnykov represented the Burevestnik of the Ukrainian SSR. Nationally he won four titles in the tandem sprint (1967, 1971–1974) and one in the 1000 m track time trial. He graduated from the University of Kharkiv with a degree in economics (1969) and then from the Saint Petersburg Military Institute of Physical Education (1977). Between 1969 and 1972 he served in the Soviet Army, and after 1977 worked as a lecturer at the Kharkiv Military School of Missile Troops.

5. Ara Abrahamian (1975 - )

With an HPI of 38.86, Ara Abrahamian is the 5th most famous Armenian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Ara Abrahamian (Armenian: Արա Աբրահամյան; born 27 July 1975) is an Armenian-Swedish wrestler in Greco-Roman wrestling. He has won two World Championships in the 76 kg and 84 kg weight classes and a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the 84 kg weight class. Abrahamian won the bronze match at the 2008 Summer Olympics, but he rejected the medal because of a controversial ruling in the semifinal. During the highly publicised medal ceremony, Abrahamian protested by placing the medal in the center of the mat and walking away. He was later disqualified by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and stripped of his rejected bronze medal for disrupting the award ceremony. This resulted in him receiving a lifetime ban from the Olympics. He was also banned from wrestling for two years by FILA, but the ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in March 2009.

6. Artur Ayvazyan (1973 - )

With an HPI of 32.75, Artur Ayvazyan is the 6th most famous Armenian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Artur Surenovych Ayvazyan (Armenian: Արթուր Այվազյան; Ukrainian: Артур Суренович Айвазян, born 14 January 1973) is an Olympic shooter for Ukraine and Russia who won a gold medal in the 50 metre rifle prone event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Born in Armenia, Ayvazyan took up shooting in 1985 and moved to Ukraine in 1990, when he competed in his first major international tournament as a junior. He won one medal as a junior, in 1993, before moving up to the senior division in 1994. He moved to Simferopol in 1997 to train with a new coach and captured his first ISSF World Cup victory the following year. As of 2012 he has participated in every edition of the Olympics since 2000 and has won six World and seven European Championship medals in individual and team events, including his junior bronze from 1993. In 2014 he began competing for Russia.

7. Vitaliy Rahimov (1984 - )

With an HPI of 28.90, Vitaliy Rahimov is the 7th most famous Armenian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Vitaliy Medzhidovich Rahimov (Russian: Вита́лий Меджи́дович Раги́мов born 27 August 1984, Meghri, Armenian SSR) is an Azerbaijani athlete. Rahimov moved with his family to Azerbaijan in 1990. He has been trained in Greco-Roman wrestling since 1994. He made the Azerbaijani Olympic teams in 2004 and 2008. In the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Rahimov beat Jim Gruenwald of the United States (7-0) but was later defeated by the Serbian Davor Stefanek. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Rahimov reached the final having beaten Sheng Jiang (China), Eusebiu Diaconu (Romania), Armen Nazaryan (Bulgaria), and Nurbakyt Tengizbayev (Turkmenistan) but lost to Islambek Albiev from Russia. On 17 November 2016 the IOC disqualified him from the 2008 Olympic Games, stripped his Olympic silver medal and struck his results from the record for failing a drugs test in a re-analysis of his doping sample from 2008.

8. Nazik Avdalyan (1986 - )

With an HPI of 27.97, Nazik Avdalyan is the 8th most famous Armenian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Nazeli "Nazik" Avdalyan (Armenian: Նազելի "Նազիկ" Ավդալյան, born October 31, 1986, in Gyumri, Armenia) is an Armenian weightlifter.

9. Hovhannes Davtyan (1983 - )

With an HPI of 27.42, Hovhannes Davtyan is the 9th most famous Armenian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Hovhannes Davtyan (Armenian: Հովհաննես Դավթյան, born 25 November 1983, in Leninakan, Armenian SSR) is a former judoka and current head coach of the Armenian Men's Judo Team. He fights in the under 60 kg category, and is very tall compared to the other fighters in his weight division.

10. Arsen Galstyan (1989 - )

With an HPI of 26.72, Arsen Galstyan is the 10th most famous Armenian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Arsen Zhorayevich Galstyan (Armenian: Արսեն Գալստյան, Russian: Арсен Жораевич Галстян, born 19 February 1989) is a Russian judoka. Galstyan is a Merited Master of Sports of Russia and an Olympic Champion at the 2012 Summer Olympics.