By Paul Vartan Sookiasian
The 2024 Summer Olympics kicked off on July 26 in Paris, with Armenia’s 15 athletes taking part in a boat parade of nations down the River Seine during the Opening Ceremonies. When Armenia appeared during the television broadcast, the French commentator hailed “our Armenian friends, a country historically close to the hearts of the French people. In a year marked… by the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh into the hands of the Azerbaijani army.” This spurred Azerbaijan’s National Olympic Committee and its Sports Ministry to file a protest with the International Olympic Committee, complaining that “Such propaganda violates the spirit of the games and the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter,” and that it “undermines peace efforts between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
By Day Three, Armenia’s dynamic duo – Brothers Artur and Vahagn Davtyan, have each qualified for the gymnastics finals in the vault and rings apparatuses. Artur made history at the last Summer Olympics in 2021 by winning a bronze in vault, marking independent Armenia’s first-ever Olympic gymnastics medal.
Among those waiting to compete is Greco-Roman wrestler Artur Aleksanyan, now at his fourth Olympics. He won a bronze at his first in London 2012, followed by gold at Rio 2016, and a silver at Tokyo 2021.
Team Armenia has only two women this year, however both have already been eliminated from further competition. They are swimmer Varsenik Manucharyan, who was one of the flag bearers during the opening ceremonies, and air pistol shooter Elmira Karapetyan, who was edged out of qualifying for the finals by a single point. Just days ago Karapetyan was a torch bearer in the relay leading up to the lighting of the OIympic cauldron, the first athlete representing Armenia to ever do so. Armenia’s other flag bearer Super Heavyweight boxer Davit Chaloyan fought his way yesterday into the quarter-finals.
Despite these stand-outs, there is a notable decrease in the number of Armenians going to the Summer Olympics. There were 32 competitors in 2016, compared to 17 in 2021 and just 15 now. Despite that drop, Armenia won four medals at each of those two previous showings, so it remains to be seen if it can maintain that efficiency with even fewer athletes this time.
As for its South Caucasian neighbors, Georgia has a population of about 25% more than Armenia, but almost double the number of competitors – with 28. Azerbaijan, with an official population close to four times that of Armenia, is fielding 48 competitors, but nearly half of them are athletes coming from as far afield as Cuba and Indonesia. For years, Azerbaijan has recruited and funded athletes to compete on its behalf, and the majority of its seven medals at the previous Olympics in Tokyo were won by non-Azerbaijanis.
CivilNet will keep you updated on the latest developments as the Olympics continue.
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