Artur Akopyan

Artur Akopyan
— Gymnast —
Full name	Artur Akopyan
Country represented	United States
Former countries represented	Soviet Union
Born	(1961-09-28) September 28, 1961 Yerevan, Soviet Armenia, USSR
Hometown	Los Angeles, U.S.
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Level	Senior International Elite
Years on national team	1976-1985
Club	Trudoviye Reservi Club
Gym	All Olympia Gymnastics Center (AOGC)
Head coach(es)	Genrikh Vanisyan
Retired	1985
Medal record World Championships 1981 Moscow Team 1983 Budapest Vault 1981 Moscow High-Bar 1981 Moscow Vault 1983 Budapest Team 1983 Budapest All-round

Artur (Arthur) Akopyan (Armenian: Արթուր Հակոբյան born September 28, 1961) is an Armenian-American gymnastics coach for the USA Gymnastics National Team and a former gymnast on the USSR Olympic Gymnastics Team. He is credited as the first athlete to do a Tsukahara double twist. Akopyan received three scores of 10 at the 1981 World Championships in Moscow. His competitive career included the 1983 World vault title, in addition to three other World individual medals.

Coaching career

Akopyan currently coaches 2012 Olympic champion McKayla Maroney. His past national team members include Mattie Larson and Samantha Shapiro. He served as a member of the national team coaching staff from 1989-2004. He coaches at All Olympia Gymnastics Center in Los Angeles, California.^[1] Akopyan gained recognition in the United States after Bela Karolyi asked him to help gymnast Kim Zmeskal. Within a couple of days, Akopyan was able to help Zmeskal with elements of her compulsory routine that she had been working on for a year.^[2][3][4][5]

Competitive history

References