Hrachya Rostomyan: We are pleased with the results but it could be better
During a meeting with reporters the Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia, Hrachya Rostomyan, summed up the 31st Summer Olympic Games, spoke about the achievements, gaps and total results.
About the organization of the Games:
We are pleased with the results of 31st Summer Olympics but it could be better. We don’t stop on the achieved results. Of course, there were gaps and incidents that couldn’t be controlled in advance. For example, Andranik Karapetyan’s injury. These were the worst and badly organized Olympics ever but they had attracted interest of about 1, 5 million tourists bringing them to Rio. One of the Olympic shortcomings was that the volunteers didn’t speak English. Robberies were committed even in the Olympic village, and reporters’ conditions were full of inconveniences.
About the main gap of the Armenian Olympic team:
We had great expectations of the freestyle wrestling team and boxers. The NOC of Armenia will hold an Executive Committee session where all the shortcomings will be discussed and our future plans will be decided. The weightlifting team promises a great future and we expect much of weightlifters at the 2020 Olympic Games.
About Gor Nerkararyan, Vanik Avetisyan and Aghasi Aghasyan
The National Olympic Committee of Armenia never interferes in the internal affairs of a team; in its training camps or especially the choice of line-up. Pashik Alaverdyan knew better whom to send to Rio and whom to keep as a reserve. One thing is clear; if there weren’t Tigran Martirosyan’s doping scandal and he were with us, you wouldn’t make a fuss and make us an enemy of the nation.
As for athlete Gor Nerkararyan, already in Rio Mr. Emmiyan approached me and said that Gor had arrive in Rio with an injury. If he didn’t come to the competition place we would have to pay a fine. Only Mr. Emmiyan can answer this question in detail.
About the appeal of wrestler Mihran Harutyunyan’s bout:
We all saw Harutyunyan’s final bout. We saw how immorally and cynically he was deprived of the victory. The NOC of Armenia has hired international lawyers who are working on the appeal process. There is a subtlety here; we should clearly indicate the reason for our appeal. We can’t appeal to the court only for passivity because every judge assess individually. The issue should be thoroughly investigated by appropriate people and then file a new suit to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
About the sports school after Artur Aleksanyan:
The school is under the control of local authorities and they decide how to control it.
About prohibited stimulants:
Unfortunately, stimulants are the greatest evil of sport and we fight against them, too. At the request of NOC’s President Gagik Tsarukyan we have an anti-doping agency in Armenia. The athlete who will take prohibited stimulants won’t have a place in the Armenian sport.
About Andranik Karapetyan’s injury:
Andranik Karapetyan was operated with the funding of the NOC of Armenia; he is already here and feels good. God willing, he will restart training in January.
About state awards:
I’m not authorized to speak about state awards. I’d like to note only that the National Olympic Committee headed by Gagik Tsarukyan will reward the athletes with a double amount of money provided by the state. There will also be surprises.
About the athletes:
Artur Aleksanyan has all chances to become a legendary athlete. He can stand next to such athletes as Karelin, Saitiev and Nazaryan. I wish him to never lose the eagerness to win.
Migran was excellently prepared for the Games. The moment of becoming champion had matured for him. It’s difficult to find a wrestler with such technique.
I’d like to speak about Arsen Julfalakyan too. Yes, Arsen failed but we shouldn’t forget that he has returned with medals from championships for years. He has proved many times that he is a high level wrestler.
We had expectations of Bachkov, too who is a very good boxer, also of Hrachik Babayan who is 20 and is already famous in his sport. The lack of experience impeded him. Harutyun Merdinyan performed brilliantly in the qualification round, his final performance was good too but he made mistake at the end. The NOC of Armenia plans to pay much attention to gymnastics and to support it more for at the Tokyo 2020 to have not one or two gymnasts but a team. I also want to congratulate and thank the Gymnastics Federation in the person of Mr. Azaryan, coaches Hakob Serobyan and Sos Sargsyan for the work they did.
Photos – here
ANOC press service
