Background and career
Yuri (Yurik) Norayrovich Vardanyan (Russian: Юрий (Юрик) Норайрович Варданян; Armenian: Յուրի (Յուրիկ) Վարդանյան, also transliterated Yuri (Yurik) Vardanian, 13 June 1956 – 1 November 2018) was a Soviet Armenian weightlifter. 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. During his career he set 41 world records. He trained at Lokomotiv in Leninakan, Armenia. He earned the title Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1977 and was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1985. In 1994 he was elected a member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
In 2009 Vardanyan became an advisor to President Serzh Sargsyan's and was appointed Minister of Sports in May 2013. In June, he was controversially appointed Armenia's ambassador to Georgia.
