LinkExchange Member
Armenia's Paralympic Yachting Team |
Lake Sevan, Armenia 1996
|
The first-ever team of disabled Armenian Olympians is coming to Los Angeles en route to the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics. The four-member yachting team and one weightlifter will represent Armenia in the Paralympic Games between August 12-27. The world's best disabled athletes will compete in the Paralympics, immediately following the able-bodied Olympics in Atlanta.
The four yachters are 17-year old boys from Spitak who were injured in Armenia's 1988 earthquake. Their names are Garoush Danielian- left leg amputee, Stasik Nazarian-right leg amputee, Armen Martirossian- right leg and left arm amputee and Haik Abgarian- left foot amputee. The weightlifter, 38-year-old Gagik Gasparian, was in an accident that paralyzed him from the waist down.
Rather than despair, the young men joined a group called Pyunic. Translated from Armenian, pyunic means phoenix, the mythical bird that rose from the ashes, representing rebirth. Pyunic was formed right after the earthquake to respond to the physical, emotional and social needs of the injured and disabled youth.
Nearly two dozen winter and summer camps
anended by 2,100 youth have not only helped rehabilitate the
youngsters, but have yielded world-class athletes. Last year, the
four teenage boys who learned to sail at Pyunic's summer camps on
Armenia's Lake Sevan traveled to Spain and qualified for this
year's Atlanta Paralympics. "Yachts and Yachting"
Magazine characterized them as the team with the least experience
and the most enthusiasm and determination. They finished as
winners of the last qualifying race. 
GO TO THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF 1996 ATLANTA PARALYMPIC GAMES
This page is created by Internet
Telepresence Inc. 1996.
E-Mail at sales@itgateway.com
Tax deductible contributions can be made payable c/o Armenian Health Alliance and sent to
