Rafayel Yeranosyan - “Pahlevan” at AGBU Performing Art Center in Pasadena, CA, March 14 2025, (818) 265-0506 
The Armenian American Museum Young Leaders Council in Glendale, CA. December 13th - 15th at 7:00 PM. Call: (818) 926-8108 Hripsime Khurshudyan
Monday, March 6, 2023
Hripsime Khurshudyan (born July 27, 1987 in Kasakh, Armenian SSR) is an Armenian weightlifter.
Hripsime was born in the village Kasakh in the Nairi region of Armenian SSR.
She has been training in weightlifting since she was 15 under the honored coach of Armenia, Sarmen Yesayan.
Khurshudyan won a silver medal at the 2006 European Weightlifting Championships. She became the first woman weightlifter from the independent Republic of Armenia to win a medal at the European Weightlifting Championships. The following year, she and Meline Daluzyan became the first Armenian female weightlifters to become European Champions at the 2007 European Weightlifting Championships. Khurshudyan also became a Junior World Champion in 2007.
Khurshudyan competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 75 kg weight class, finishing in 11th place. She was a late substitute for Meline Daluzyan, who suffered from an acute attack of pancreatitis and was forced to withdraw from the Olympics. Since she was not prepared to take part in this competition, Khurshudyan could not perform to the best of her ability.
In 2010, Khurshudyan was unable to fit within the weight category of 75 kg and was forced to move up in weight class.
She participated in the women's +75 kg weight class at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, though weighing in at only 76 kg. She originally won the bronze medal, finishing behind Tatiana Kashirina and Zhou Lulu. She snatched 128 kg and jerked an additional 166 kg for a total of 294 kg. Khurshudyan originally became not only the first Armenian woman to win an Olympic medal in weightlifting, but also the first Armenian woman to win an Olympic medal.
In 2016, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) revealed that she was one of 11 weightlifters who failed a doping test. Actual retests of her samples from 2008 revealed the presence of stanozolol, and she was officially disqualified. Actual retests of her samples from 2012 revealed the presence of dehydrochlormethyltestosterone and stanozolol. In November 2016, she was stripped of the Olympic medal.
