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Armenia at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Armenia sent a delegation to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 12 to 28 February 2010. This marked the nation's fifth appearance at a Winter Olympics as an independent country. The Armenian delegation consisted of four athletes, two in alpine skiing and two in cross-country skiing. The team's best finish in any event was a 70th place mark by Sergey Mikayelyan in the men's 15 kilometre freestyle cross-country event.  BackgroundArmenia became an independent nation again following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.[1] The National Olympic Committee of Armenia was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 31 December 1992.[2] Armenia participated in their first Olympics in Lillehammer at the 1994 Winter Olympics, and has sent a delegation to every Summer and Winter Olympics since.[3] While Armenia has won multiple medals at the Summer Olympics, they had never won a Winter Olympics medal as of the close of these Vancouver Olympics.[3] The Armenian delegation to Vancouver consisted of four athletes, two in alpine skiing and two in cross-country skiing.[4] Alpine skier Arsen Nersisyan was chosen as the flag bearer for the opening ceremony, while cross-country skier Sergey Mikayelyan was chosen as flag bearer for the closing ceremony.[5][6] Alpine skiingArsen Nersisyan was 22 at the time of the Vancouver Olympics and was making his Olympic debut.[7] On 23 February, he failed to finish the first run of the giant slalom.[8] On 27 February, he participated in the slalom, but after skiing a first run time of 1 minute and 5 seconds, he was disqualified from the competition for "improper gate movement".[9][10] He said he was disqualified "because coming out of the starting gate, my skies parted."[9] Ani-Matilda Serebrakian was 21 years old at the time of these Games, and was also making her first Olympics appearance.[11] On 24 February, in challenging weather conditions, she did not finish the first leg of the giant slalom.[12] Two days later, she was disqualified from the Women's slalom, reportedly for using skis that fell outside of the allowed size tolerances.[13]
Cross-country skiingKristine Khachatryan was 20 years old at the time of the Games, while Sergey Mikayelyan was 17; both were making their first Olympic appearances.[14][15] Mikayelyan would later go on to represent Armenia at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.[14] O n 15 February, Khachatryan competed in the women's 10 kilometre freestyle event, finishing in a time of 23 minutes and 17 seconds, which put her in 75th place out of 77 classified finishers.[16] That same day, Mikayelyan skied the men's 15 kilometre freestyle, finishing in a time of 37 minutes and 59 seconds, which was Armenia's best finish of the games; 70th place out of 95 finishers.[17]
See alsoReferences
Information related to Armenia at the 2010 Winter Olympics |
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