Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Rising son aims to go one better

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Rising son aims to go one better

    Sydney Morning Herald , Australia
    Jan 4 2005

    Rising son aims to go one better
    By Sunanda Creagh

    Like most athletes, David Sarkisian's dream is to step up to the
    Olympic podium and accept a gold medal. But the 18 year-old says he'd
    hand it straight over to his coach - his Olympic weightlifter father,
    Yurik Sarkisian.

    "I want to achieve it for him, that's my goal," says David, one of
    Australia's medal hopefuls in the Australian Youth Olympics Festival,
    starting in Sydney on January 19. "I want to have that medal so I can
    present it to him."

    David admits that being coached by his father is hard - partying is
    all but banned, training is twice a day without fail, and Sarkisian
    senior doesn't settle for second best. Coupled with his father's
    tough training ethic is the knowledge that David has big shoes to
    fill.

    Yurik Sarkisian's formidable record includes a junior world champion
    title at 18 and representing the USSR, Armenia and Australia at
    championship levels. Now aged 44, he still competes, beating athletes
    half his age to take three gold medals at the 2002 Commonwealth
    Games. He has collected five gold medals at senior world
    championships and silver at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

    Advertisement
    AdvertisementThe only thing missing from Yurik's mantelpiece is
    Olympic gold - something David never forgets.

    "He didn't get a gold medal in the Olympics and that's because he
    slacked off a little bit," David says.

    "My dad's coach told me he had a lot of chances to get gold medals,
    he should have had at least two Olympic gold," says David. "That's
    why he is so strict on me, because he slacked off and he wants to me
    to achieve what he didn't achieve."

    It sounds like unreasonable pressure, but David says he loves the
    sport as much as his father does. After moving to Australia from
    Armenia at age seven, David was competing in weightlifting
    championships three years later.

    At the Commonwealth Youth Games last year, David snatched 117.5
    kilograms and lifted 142.5kg in the clean-and-jerk, earning gold in
    the men's 69kg class. After recovering from a knee injury, David is
    now eyeing gold at the Youth Olympics and, in a few years, Beijing.

    Meanwhile, Yurik is in training for this year's world championships
    and nurses a dream to compete against his son in the same division at
    the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

    The Youth Olympics Festival runs from January 19 to 23 at Olympic
    Park and in venues throughout Sydney. About 1400 athletes from more
    than 20 countries will compete in 14 sports. Entry is free.
Working...
X