Armenia at the
2014 Winter Paralympics
The flag of Armenia
The flag of Armenia
IPC codeARM
NPCArmenian National Paralympic Committee
in Sochi
Competitors1 (man) in 1 sport
Flag bearer Mher Avanesyan
Medals
Gold
0
Silver
0
Bronze
0
Total
0
Winter Paralympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
 Soviet Union (1988)
 Unified Team (1992)

Armenia sent a delegation to compete at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia from 7–16 March 2014. This was the nation's fifth appearance at a Winter Paralympic Games. The delegation consisted of a single alpine skier, Mher Avanesyan, who lost both arms as a child after coming into contact with a high-voltage electrical wire. In the men's standing slalom he came in 34th place out of 35 competitors who finished the race, and he failed to finish the giant slalom.

Background

Armenia first entered Paralympic competition at the 1996 Summer Paralympics, and Winter Paralympic competition at the 1998 Winter Paralympics. They have entered every Paralympics since, making Sochi their fifth Winter Paralympics appearance.[1] As of 2018, Armenia has never won a Paralympic medal,[1] though the nation has won several medals at the Olympic Games.[2] The 2014 Winter Paralympics were held from 7–16 March 2014, in Sochi, Russia; 45 countries and 547 athletes took part in the multi-sport event.[3] The Armenian delegation to Sochi consisted of a single alpine skier, Mher Avanesyan.[4] He was chosen as the Armenian flag-bearer for the parade of nations during the opening ceremony[5] and the closing ceremony.[6]

Disability classification

Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories: amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, though there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; and Les Autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, like dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.[7][8] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Events with "B" in the code are for athletes with visual impairment, codes LW1 to LW9 are for athletes who stand to compete and LW10 to LW12 are for athletes who compete sitting down.[9] Alpine skiing events grouped athletes into separate competitions for sitting, standing and visually impaired athletes.[10]

Alpine skiing

Main article: Alpine skiing at the 2014 Winter Paralympics

Mher Avanesyan was 33 years old at the time of the Sochi Paralympics.[11] He had previously represented Armenia in sailing at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, and the 1998, 2006, and 2010 Winter Paralympics.[4] He lost both arms at the age of 7 after touching high-voltage wires, and is classified as LW5/7-1, meaning he competes in a standing position.[12] LW5/7 is defined in International Paralympic Committee website as "Athletes in this sport class ski with an impairment in both arms. Some athletes have amputations and others have limited muscle power or coordination problems."[9] On 13 March, he participated in the men's standing slalom, posting a first run time of 1 minute and 12.01 seconds,[13] and finishing the second run in 1 minute and 18.33 seconds.[14] His total time, determined by adding the two run times, was 2 minutes and 30.34 seconds, which ranked him 34th out of 35 classified finishers, the gold medal was won by Alexey Bugaev of Russia in a time of 1 minute and 38.97 seconds. The silver medal was won by Vincent Gauthier-Manuel of France, and the bronze by Alexander Alyabyev also of Russia.[15] Two days later, in the men's standing giant slalom, Avanesyan failed to finish the first leg,[16] after missing a gate approximately 55 seconds into his run.[17] In the giant slalom, gold was won by Gauthier-Manuel and silver by Bugaev; bronze was won by Markus Salcher of Austria.[18]

Athlete Event Run 1 Run 2 Final/Total
Time Diff Rank Time Diff Rank Time Diff Rank
Mher Avanesyan Slalom, standing 1:12.01 +24.32 40 1:18.33 +27.05 33 2:30.34 +51.37 34
Giant slalom, standing DNF Did Not Advance

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Armenia". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Armenia". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  3. ^ "Sochi 2014 Paralympics". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Armenia: Six facts on the Sochi 2014 Paralympics" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Sochi 2014 Opening Ceremony flag bearers". International Paralympic Committee. 7 March 2014. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Sochi 2014 Closing Ceremony flag bearers". International Paralympic Committee. 16 March 2014. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  7. ^ "Paralympics categories explained". ABC. 3 September 2008. Archived from the original on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  8. ^ "Making sense of the categories". BBC Sport. 6 October 2000. Archived from the original on 28 May 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  9. ^ a b "Classification". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Sochi Winter Paralympics: Guide to the sports". BBC Online. 18 February 2014. Archived from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Mher AVANESYAN – Alpine Skiing – Armenia". Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  12. ^ "Athlete Bio – Mher Avanesyan". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  13. ^ "Men's Slalom 1st Run – Standing – Alpine Skiing". Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  14. ^ "Men's Slalom 2nd Run – Standing – Alpine Skiing". Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  15. ^ "Alpine Skiing at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games – Men's Slalom Standing". International Paralympic Committee. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  16. ^ "Men's Giant Slalom 1st Run – Standing – Alpine Skiing". Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  17. ^ "Mher Avanesyan (1st run) – Men's giant slalom standing – Alpine skiing – Sochi 2014 Paralympics". International Paralympic Committee via YouTube. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  18. ^ "Alpine Skiing at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games – Men's Giant Slalom Standing". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
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