Sanasar Oganisyan

Born in Moscow to an Armenian family, Sanasar Oganisyan was considered the world’s best freestyle light-heavyweight wrestler in the early 1980s, but his career was hampered by several serious injuries. Oganisyan took up wrestling in 1971 and, after winning gold at both the 1978 European Junior Championships and 1979 World Junior Championships, he entered the ranks of seniors in 1980 by winning the European title. He entered the 1980 Olympics as a favorite for freestyle light-heavyweight gold and did not disappoint, winning the title. After the Olympics, Oganisyan continued his golden streak by winning the 1981 World title and the 1981 World Cup, but then seriously injured his back at the start of 1982. It took nearly two years for Oganisyan to recover from that injury, but in 1984 he qualified for the Soviet Olympic team, missing the Games due to the Soviet boycott. Instead, he competed at the Friendship Games and won gold as light-heavyweight,also winning the World Cup that year. Oganisyan earned his second European title in 1986, but then re-injured his back and again missed several seasons. After recovering from injury, Oganisyan attempted another comeback, this time as a heavyweight, but with less success, as he did not qualify for the 1988 Soviet Olympic team, although he did win silver at the 1989 World Cup. Domestically, Oganisyan won only two Soviet titles: in 1981 in light-heavyweight and in 1989 in heavyweight. Oganisyan retired from sports after the fall of the Soviet Union.