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.
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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.