World-famous Armenian weightlifter, Olympic champion Yuri Vardanyan has passed away after long illness at the age of 62.
He died in the United States, where he was living, the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs told Panorama.am.
Vardanyan won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics, becoming the world's first weightlifter to achieve a 400 kilogram total in the 82.5 kg weight category.
He was a seven-time World and 5-time European Champion. He earned the title Honoured Master of Sports of the Soviet Union in 1977 and was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1985. In 1994 he was elected member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
In 2009 Vardanyan became then President Serzh Sargsyan's adviser and was appointed sports minister in May 2013. In June, he was appointed Armenia's ambassador to Georgia.