Freestyle wrestler Arsen Harutyunyan will represent Armenia at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The three-time world champion and four-time European champion will compete in the 57 kg weight category. He is one of the tournament favorites and aims to conquer the Olympics.
Before the competition, Arsen Harutyunyan gave an interview to the official website of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports (escs.am).
— Arsen, what is your mood and physical condition as you approach the Paris Games?
— The mood is excellent, the training sessions are going very well, and the main thing is to stay injury-free. The rest will be shown on the mat in Paris.
— What kind of preparation have you undergone during this time, and what have you focused on the most?
— We have conducted many training camps, performed a large amount of physical work, and tried to improve our technique. After the European Championship, if there were mistakes, we tried to correct them with the help of the coaches. At the beginning of July, we will have another training camp in Georgia, and then we will continue training in Olimpavan.
— Paris 2024 will be your second Olympic Games. If we look back, what didn’t go well in Tokyo? And how have you changed since then as an athlete and as a person?
— I participated in the Tokyo Olympics at a very young age. I made mistakes for which I was solely responsible. I didn't prepare properly, I slackened in my training. Undoubtedly, I have changed a lot since those games. In general, many things have changed in my life, in sports, and in my character over these three years. A person learns something new every day and matures. Now I wrestle with more confidence and maturity. I understood where I was lacking and tried to fix those issues.
— Are you self-critical?
— I think you are responsible for all your failures. Everything is in your hands, and you shouldn't blame others. If you did something wrong, you should correct it.
— Are the Olympic Games in Paris a special tournament for you?
— At the moment, I am preparing in the same way as for the World or European Championships. I have to do everything possible to perform as well as possible and achieve high results.
— You know almost all the opponents in your weight category. What kind of competition do you expect?
— Yes, I know everyone, I have wrestled with almost all of them. There have been cases when I won and cases when I lost. On the day of the competition, the one who is in better shape will win. The winner will be the one who has worked correctly over these years, hasn't slackened, and has trained well. The mat will show everything.
— With which legendary athlete would you like to spend a whole day?
— With Besik Kudukhov, who, unfortunately, is no longer with us.
List of main favorites in the 57 kg weight category at the Olympic Games:
Nochin Mongush (AIN, Russia).
Stevan Micic (Serbia) – World Champion (2023).
Rei Higuchi (Japan) - Olympic silver medalist (2016) and World Champion (2022).
Arsen Harutyunyan (Armenia) – European Champion (2024, 2023, 2022) and World Championship bronze medalist (2023, 2022, 2021).
Zelimkhan Abakarov (Albania) – World Champion (2022) and European Championship silver medalist (2024, 2023).
Aliabbas Rzazade (Azerbaijan) - European Champion (2023).
Spencer Lee (USA) – Pan American Champion (2024).
Gulomjon Abdullaev (Uzbekistan) – Asian Champion (2016, 2018).