Vartan MILITOSYAN

Armenian Vardan Militosyan took up weightlifting in 1964 and rose to the Soviet national team in 1975 after winning a middleweight bronze medal at the Soviet championships. During his career Militosyan was European middleweight champion in 1976 and 1978, won Olympic silver in 1976, and silver at the 1976 and 1978 World Championships. Domestically, Militosyan never won a Soviet title. In addition to his 1975 bronze he won only one more medal, silver in 1979. Militosyan also set nine middleweight world records: one in the snatch, six in the clean & jerk, and two in the total. Militosyan finished his sporting career in 1980 after he was not selected to the Soviet 1980 Olympic team and worked as a weightlifting coach in his native Armenia. His most famous pupil was his cousin, 1992 lightweight Olympic champion Israel Militosyan.