12 Facts About Hrant Shahinyan

Hrant Shahinyan, known as Grant Shaginyan, was a Soviet Armenian gymnast.

Hrant Shahinyan was born on 30 July 1923 in the village of Gyulagarak.

In 1943 at the age of 20, Hrant Shahinyan volunteered to fight in the front line in World War II and received a wounded leg during service.

Hrant Shahinyan had to walk with a stick afterward, but after undergoing treatment in 1946 and through much hard work, was able to become a member of the USSR Artistic Gymnastic National Team.

Hrant Shahinyan began studying gymnastics under Harutyun Gargaloyana after moving to Yerevan.

Hrant Shahinyan was unable to best Chukarin in the pommel horse either.

Hrant Shahinyan tied in second with stablemate Yevgeny Korolkov, resulting in two silver medalists.

When it came time for the still rings, Hrant Shahinyan scored higher than Chukarin and the rest of the participants to win the gold medal of the event and became the Olympic Champion in rings with a score of 9.950, a score which, among the men, between 1952 and 1976, seems to have been equaled or surpassed at a World Championships or Olympics only by fellow Armenian-Soviet Albert Azaryan, on the rings, at the 1954 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Two years later at the 1954 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Hrant Shahinyan became a World Champion in the pommel horse by winning the gold medal of the event and the Soviet team won the gold medal in the Team All-Around .

In 1958, Hrant Shahinyan founded the Youth Gymnastic Olympic Sports School in the Armenian capital Yerevan, and became the director of the sports school.

In 1975, Hrant Shahinyan arrived in Damascus to manage the Syrian gymnastics national team for almost 5 years until 1980.

Hrant Shahinyan, who won two gold medals and two silver medals in gymnastics at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, is the first Armenian in modern Olympic history to win an Olympic medal.