Yurik Vardanyan - Personal Life

Personal Life

Vardanyan had met his wife Eleonora, an international athlete in the sport of lunge, while training together in the USSR national sports selections. They got married in 1983 in Armenia. The couple have three sons: David (b. 1983), Norayr (b. 1987) and Michael (b. 1995). Their middle son, Norayr Vardanyan, is an Olympic weightlifter for Armenia.

Vardanyan moved to the United States in 1992 and settled in Los Angeles. He claims that he had political disagreements with then-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan and that served as a reason for that. He came back to Armenia in 2009 and on April 2, 2009 he was appointed as President Serzh Sargsyan's adviser. He and his family currently live in Yerevan.

On October 8, 2010, Vardanyan was in a car accident when his car hit a tractor on the Yerevan-Gyumri highway. He was taken to hospital in Ashtarak and was later transfered to Nairi Medical Center. Vardanyan received emergency surgery on a thigh bone and he sustained shin injuries, but was reported to be in satisfactory condition afterward.

Vardanyan was hospitalized in the Erebuni medical center for an unknown reason on April 22, 2011. Doctors stated his condition was "grave but stable." That same day, Vardanyan was diagnosed with embolism and during surgery for lower leg reconstruction, his heart stopped. He had gone into a coma. His condition was reported stable a few days later and he was released from the hospital on May 13, 2011.

To this day, Vardanyan is still hailed as a hero in Armenia for his deeds in the sport of weightlifting. A stamp of Vardanyan was printed in 2010 in honor of him.