Artur Aleksanian 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 Aleksanian wore a shirt with the image of Robert Abajian who was killed in Artsakh during the April War.
Earlier on Tuesday, Aleksanian defeated Turkey’s Cenk Ildem in the semifinals to advance to the finals.
Fellow wrestler Mihran Harutyunian won a a silver medal.
Harutyunian, 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 Martirosian, 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, Martirosian won a gold medal at the Summer Youth Olympics and a bronze medal in the 2016 European Weightlifting Championships.
