Simon Martirosyan (Armenian: Սիմոն Մարտիրոսյան; born 17 February 1997) is an Armenian weightlifter, Olympian,[1] two time World Champion, and two time European Champion competing in the 105 kg category until 2018 and 109 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories.[2]
Career
He held the youth world record for the snatch, the clean and jerk and total in the +94 kg division before weight classes were changed in 2018 nullifying earlier records. He is currently the world record holder in the Total for the −109 kg division.
In 2018 the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories nullifying earlier records, and coming into the competition it was suspected to be a close race between Ruslan Nurudinov (gold medalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics), and Yang Zhe (4th place at the 2016 Summer Olympics). After the snatch portion of the competition, Ruslan Nurudinov was out of the running for a total (as he did not complete a lift), and Yang Zhe was leading Martirosyan by 1 kg. In the clean & jerk portion of the competition, Martirosyan was the last lifter to begin lifting, and with his first lift of 230 kg he was in first place. After Nurudinov was unable to complete his next lift of 238 kg, Martirosyan attempted and made a 240 kg clean & jerk, setting new world records in the clean & jerk and total,[6] and winning the gold medal.[7]
He competed at the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships in the 109 kg category after a convincing win at the 2019 European Weightlifting Championships. He competed against silver medalist in the previous championships (Yang Zhe) and 2008 Olympic Champion (Andrei Aramnau). During the snatch competition Zhe, Aramnau and Martirosyan had their third snatch attempts in succession completed a world record lift each time. Zhe completed a 197 kg snatch, Aramnau with a 198 kg snatch and finally Martirosyan with a 199 kg lift.[8] During the clean & jerk portion Martirosyan was the last lifter to make an attempt and with his lift of 230 kg he secured the gold medal in the clean & jerk and total.[9]
