Yurik's Story
Yurik Sarkisian is an Olympic silver medallist and former Australian weightlifter who represented Australia at the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Born in Armenia on 14 August 1961, he was previously one of the Soviet Union's greatest weightlifters before becoming an Australian citizen.
At the Atlanta Olympics, Sarkisian competed for Australia in the men's bantamweight division, finishing seventh. His Olympic career was remarkable, having earlier won a silver medal for the Soviet Union at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
A two-time World Champion and multiple world-record holder, Sarkisian later won Commonwealth Games silver for Australia in 1998 and Commonwealth Games gold in 2002. He was inducted into the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame in 2007.
