At the opening ceremony

PARIS (Combined Sources) — Athletes from 184 countries, including Armenia, are in Paris to compete in the 2024 Olympics, which are taking place July 26 through August 21.

This is the eight consecutive appearance by a team from Armenia at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet period.

The team comprises 15 athletes:

Shooting: Elmira Karapetyan (European Championship bronze medalist, European Games runner-up and World Cup winner)

  • Gymnastics: Artur Davtyan and Vahagn Davtyan
  • Freestyle wrestling: Vazgen Tevanyan and Arsen Harutyunyan
  • Boxing: Davit Chaloyan
  • Greco-Roman wrestling: Artur Aleksanyan, Malkhas Amoyan and Slavik Galstyan
  • Weightlifting: Varazdat Lalayan, Garik Karapetyan and Andranik Karapetyan
  • Swimming: Artur Barseghyan and Varsenik Manucharyan
  • 1,500 Meters Track: Yervand Mkrtchyan

Boxer Chaloyan was Armenia’s flag bearer for the opening ceremony.

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So far, Chaloyan, in an upset, made it to the quarter-finals in the Men’s Super-Heavyweight event at Paris Olympics.

Davit Chaloyan after defeating Delicious Orie of Great Britain

Super heavyweight boxer Delicious Orie, one of Team GB’s biggest gold medal hopes heading into the Games, suffered a shock defeat to Armenia’s Davit Chaloyan in his first fight at the Olympics on July 29.

The 27-year-old lost 3-2 on split decision and becomes the latest British boxer to fall at the first hurdle in Paris after Charley Davison, Rosie Eccles and Pat Brown also came up short in their opening fights.

Orie had been expected to follow in the footsteps of Antony Joshua who won gold at London 2012 and has gone on to win multiple heavyweight titles since turning professional.

In other events, Team Armenia gymnasts Artur Davtyan and Vahagn Davtyan both earlier qualified for the August 4 finals.

Elmira Karapetyan

Swimmer Varsenik Manucharyan and shooter Elmira Karapetyan failed the qualification rounds.

Karapetyan failed to qualify for the 10m Air Pistol Women’s finals at the Paris 2024 Olympics after garnering 576 points and finishing 9th at the qualification round on July 27, only 1 point short of making it to the final.

Ahead of the 33rd Summer Olympic Games in Paris, the “Olympic House of Armenia” was officially opened today in the capital of France.

The event was attended by Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan, Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Arayik Harutyunyan, Deputy Minister of Sports Karen Giloyan, Armenia’s Ambassador to France Hasmik Tolmajian, Honorary Consul Denis Djorkaeff, members of the Armenian Olympic team, representatives of the Armenian Olympic Committee and AGBU.

Welcoming the attendees, President Vahagn Khachaturyan expressed gratitude to the athletes of the Armenian national team, “thanks to whom we have the opportunity to represent our country at the 33rd Olympic Games.”

“There is one expectation – to see the Armenian flag raised, to see happy and victorious smiles,” said Vahagn Khachaturyan and wished success to the athletes participating in the Olympic Games.

Armenia’s President Vahagn Khachaturyan and Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Arayik Harutyunyan at the opening ceremony

The President also emphasized the great attention paid by the Government to physical culture and sports, including the development of mass sports.

Harutyunyan said: “Hopefully, until August 11, we will have many opportunities to honor our athletes here. I hope that after the Olympic Games we will promise to build at least four new sports schools in Armenia in honor of our Olympians.”

Giloyan presented the details of the “Olympic House of Armenia” initiative.

 

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