Armenians ski in Vancouver
Four athletes compete in Winter Olympics
by Emil Sanamyan
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Published: Saturday February 20, 2010
Washington – At the Winter Olympics underway in Vancouver Armenia is
represented by four skiers: 21-year-old Armenian American Ani-Matilda
Serebrakian and three athletes from Armenia: 17-year-old Sergei
Mikaelian, 20-year-old Kristine Khachatryan and 22-year-old Arsen
Nersisyan.
Since Armenia began taking part in Winter Olympics in 1994, the
newly-independent country dispatched similarly modest delegations and
has yet to win any medals or even come close.
Legacy of Armenian American participation
A sophomore at the University of San Francisco, Ms. Serebrakian will
compete in slalom and giant slalom on February 24 and 26. She is
described by her former coach as a dedicated and talented skier who
knows how to race.
Ms.Serebrakian, whose parents came to U.S. from Iran in the late
1970s, says she is proud to represent Armenia, a country she visited
two years ago for the first time.
"We kind of fell in love with" Armenia, Ms. Serebrakian told San
Francisco Chronicle. "That brought us to qualifying for the Olympics
and here I am.”
Ani’s brother Arman, a 22 year-old skier at University of Colorado,
Boulder, also attempted to qualify but did not succeed.
According to San Jose Mercury-News, Ms. Serebrakian is the second Bay
Area Armenian to represent Armenia at the Olympic Games. Dan Janjigian
together with Yorgo Alexandrou made up Armenia’s bobsled team in Salt
Lake City in 2002.
They were preceded in 1994 Lillehammer games by the bobsled team of
Joe Almasian and Ken Topalian from Boston.
Seeking a foothold in Winter Olympics
Skiing is taking off in Armenia with new and much improved facilities
established at the mountain winter resort in Tsakhkadzor.
According to a report in Golos Armenii, Sergei Mikaelian who trains in
Ashotsk, one of Armenia’s coldest and most snowy districts, comes from
a veritable skiing family. His father Artur Mikaelian now trains the
Armenian national skiing team and his mother Alla Kapchigayeva was a
six-time Soviet skiing champion.
Last year, Mr. Mikaelian swept the Armenian cross-country skiing
championship. But the young athlete’s first Olympic performance was
not as impressive when he finished 70th of 95 participants in the
15-kilometer free race.
In the Ladies’ 10-kilometer free race Ms. Khachatryan came 76th out of
78 athletes. Prior to the games she told ArmSport.am that she was
aiming for a position in Top 50; she will have another chance in the
Ladies’ 15-kilometer race.
Meantime, Mr. Nersisyan is competing in slalom and giant slalom on
February 23 and 27. Selected to carry Armenia’s flag at the games’
opening ceremony on February 12, Mr. Nersisyan had placed at top of
recent competitions in Georgia and Turkey and appears to be Armenia’s
best hope for a higher placement.