MediaMax, Armenia
Zaven Mikaelyan talks moving to France and new achievements
Greco-Roman wrestler, silver medalist of Youth Olympics and European Championship, French Club Cup (Championnat de France Lutte Greco-Roman) holder Zaven Mikaelyan is a young, promising athlete from Armenia.
Mediamax Sport told about him in the column Future Stars of Big-Time Sport and followed his thriving career in Armenian and international tournaments.
Zaven moved to France and withdrew from the Armenia squad two years ago. He has talked to Mediamax Sport about overcoming difficulties, recovering from injury, and representing a different country.
I have been a part of France’s junior team for two years. I moved to France in 2017 with the help from my friend Artak Margaryan, who has won multiple medals with France. He helped me find my current club, Sarreguemines. I wouldn’t be here without him, I am so, so grateful to him for supporting me and believing in me.
I left Armenia because there were too many problems. The conditions for training were non-existent, my family couldn’t afford treatment for my injury, and the French club was ready to cover the expenses.
My debut for France took place in autumn 2017, in the Steeve Guenot Tournament in Dijon. Guenot is a 2008 Beijing Olympics champion. I have a warm relationship with all coaches, and Guenot himself is among them.
I had health issues at first, but the recovery went well and thanks to the competent efforts of the coaches, I have already won in several tournaments. Now I’m preparing for the French Club Cup, which is very tough. French clubs have strong wrestlers of various nationalities.
Sarreguemines is the holding champion, and it is very inspiring. It encourages me to train more so that we retain the title. My goal is to train more than everybody else and win as many matches as I can.
I want to thank my Armenian personal coaches Gor Abgaryan and Vardan Tadevosyan, who understood why I wanted to leave and accepted my decision. They will be my coaches as long as I’m a competing wrestler.
I’m happy to represent France. I train hard and I have medical insurance, a very important thing I didn’t have in Armenia, which is why we often had to pay for treatment from our own pocket. I am grateful to my French coaches too: Steeve Guenot, Gilles Buatois and the club coach, Eric Cirk. With them, I’m ready to win all titles there are out there.