The first Chairman of the Olympic Committee of independent Armenia Ruben Hakobyan, in a conversation with Aravot.am, remembered how the athletes of already independent Armenia won 3 gold and 1 silver medal at the 25th Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, but the heroes were discarded in their homeland. “I was a little confused when people say that the first Olympic gold of the independent Armenia was conquered in 1996, in Atlanta. Glory and honor to our wrestler Armen Nazaryan who won the gold medal, whom I love and respect very much. But the history tells quite different thing, and I have another point of view. In the Olympic Games of 1992 in Barcelona, Armenia participated in the joint team of Olympic Committee of the former Soviet Union, but I was the one who took the state flag of Armenia during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, with its flag and the anthem.
In this match, 3 athletes from Armenia, weightlifter Israel Militosyan, shooter Hrachik Petikyan and wrestler Mnatsakan Iskandaryan won the gold medals, while Alfred Ter-Stepanyan, also a wrestling, won the silver medal. I do not count that our “Hatis” was in the collective of women’s basketball team, which also won the gold medal. Every time when our winners and prizewinners ascend the honorable pedestal, the anthem of Armenia is heard, the state flag of Armenia is raised. It has happened, and no one can deny. When I say that appropriately meeting and evaluating the champions in the homeland is very important, I remember the year 1992. The President of Armenia, then, received our sport heroes of Armenia only three months later, and it is, perhaps, because it was a shame not to meet the Olympic champions. No awards, no medals. There was no word about financial encouragement. In short, none of them received anything.”
Ashot HAKOBYAN
