AAP NEWSFEED
January 21, 2005, Friday 2:24 AM Eastern Time
Spo: All in the family for the Sarkisians
By Billy Freeman
SYDNEY, Jan 21
Dinner table discussion at the Sarkisian household often focuses on
goals and how to achieve them.
Father Yuri and son David know exactly what they want, but the
problem is only one of them can achieve it.
Both Yuri and David want to win weightlifting gold at next year’s
Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in the men’s 69kg class and are
realistic about facing off against each other.
Yuri, 44, won three gold medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in
Manchester in the 62kg class, but has moved up a class in order to
compete against his son.
“We want the father and son to fight for the gold medal, which has
never happened before (in the) last 100 years,” said the senior
Sarkisian, who was born in Armenia and began representing Australia a
decade ago.
He said he would show his son no mercy if they both make the final in
Melbourne, saying his competitiveness would take over.
“This is the sport, it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“I know (we are) father and son, but you should fight until the
last.”
As you would expect from an 18-year old, David concedes nothing to
his father.
He wants to be the one standing atop the dais in Melbourne, teasing
his dad that it might be time to step aside.
“I’m not going to give him a chance to win anyway – he needs to
retire,” he said.
“In a couple of months I should be a lot stronger so I don’t think
he’ll have a chance anyway.”
David is currently competing at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival
(AYOF) in Sydney.
At the last AYOF in 2003 he won gold, adding to an already successful
career at such a young age.
He said he sometimes had to pinch himself that he was getting to
follow in his father’s footsteps.
“He’s like an idol, I used to always see him go off to competitions
and he would come back with medals,” he said.
“One day I just started to go down and train with him and now I’m
competing in international competitions.”