Yurik Vardanyan

Yuri Vardanyan

Vardanyan at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow
Personal information
Nationality	Armenian
Born	(1956-06-13) 13 June 1956 (age 60) Leninakan, Soviet Union (now Gyumri, Armenia)
Sport
Country	Soviet Union
Sport	Olympic weightlifting
Turned pro	1977
Retired	1985
Medal record Olympic Games 1980 Moscow -82.5 kg World Championships 1977 Stuttgart -75 kg 1978 Gettysburg -82.5 kg 1979 Thessaloniki -82.5 kg 1980 Moscow -82.5 kg 1981 Lille -82.5 kg 1982 Ljubljana -90 kg 1983 Moscow -82.5 kg 1985 Södertälje -82.5 kg European Championships 1977 Stuttgart -75 kg 1978 Havířov -82.5 kg 1980 Belgrade -82.5 kg 1981 Lille -82.5 kg 1982 Liubliana -90 kg 1983 Moscow -82.5 kg 1984 Vitoria -82.5 kg USSR Weightlifting Championships 1977 Ratov Na Donu -75 kg 1979 Leningrad -82.5 kg 1981 Novosibirsk -90 kg 1982 Dnipropetrovsk -90 kg Summer Spartakiad of the USSR 1979 Leningrad -82.5 kg Cups of the USSR 1976 Sverdlovski -75 kg Snatch 1976 Sverdlovski -75 kg Clean and Jerk 1976 Sverdlovski -75 kg Total
Updated on 15 December 2012.

Yuri Vardanyan (Armenian: Յուրի Վարդանյան, born 13 June 1956) is a retired Armenian (formerly Soviet) 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 member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.

In 2009 Vardanyan became President Serzh Sargsyan's adviser and was appointed Minister of Sports in May 2013. In June, he was controversially appointed Armenia's ambassador to Georgia.

Vardanyan was born on 13 June 1956 in Leninakan, Armenian SSR (now Gyumri, Armenia), a city well known for its weightlifters. He began weight training in 1970 under the guidance of his uncle Sergey Vardanyan.

Yuri Vardanyan first came onto the international weightlifting scene in 1977. He competed against Peter Wenzel of East Germany, one of the top middleweights in the world, twice that year and defeated him both times. Vardanyan also won the Championship of the USSR for the first time. Vardanyan had set all the world records in the division by the time of the Weightlifting European Championships at the age of 20 and became a Weightlifting World Champion for the first time at the age of 21. For his deeds, he received the Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR award that year.