Artur Akopyan ( born September 28, 1961) is an Armenian gymnastics coach and a former artistic gymnast. He is credited as the first athlete to do a Tsukahara double twist. Akopyan received three scores of 10 at the 1981 World Championships in Moscow. His competitive career included the 1983 World vault title, in addition to three other World individual medals.
Gymnastics career Akopyan was part of the gold medal winning teams at the 1979 and 1981 World Championships. Additionally he won a silver medal with the Soviet team at the 1983 World Championships where he also won an individual gold medal on vault. He retired in 1985.
Coaching career After his competitive career, Akopyan moved to the United States and began coaching. He gained recognition in the United States after Bela Karolyi asked him to help gymnast Kim Zmeskal. Within a couple of days, Akopyan was able to help Zmeskal with elements of her compulsory routine that she had been working on for a year. He served as a member of the national team coaching staff from 1989 to 2004.
Akopyan previously coached 2012 Olympic champion McKayla Maroney.
In 2016, Akopyan's former athlete Mattie Larson filed a lawsuit against All Olympic Gymnastics and its directors, Akopyan and Galina Marinova, claiming that the "abusive, harassing and degrading environment" at the gym led to a situation of secrecy which enabled Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics national team doctor, to sexually assault her." They settled the lawsuit for $1 million.
In 2024, ten more of his former gymnasts told The Washington Post that Akopyan physically abused them or their teammates when they were girls, including nine who said he had thrown young gymnasts to the ground in anger, sometimes hard enough to leave bruises.
Competitive history YearEventAATeamVTHBPHFX1976USSR Cup (junior)1st1977USSR Championships (junior)1stFriendship Tournament6th1stAll-Union Youth Sports Games1st1978USSR Championships (junior)2ndFriendship Tournament (junior)4th1st2nd1979USSR Spartakiade13th5thUSSR Championships6th5th4thUSSR-ROM Dual Meet1st1stUSSR-GDR Dual Meet1st1stUSSR Cup1st2nd3rd1stChunichi Cup3rdTokyo Cup1st1st1980USSR Cup6Moscow News3rd1981USSR Cup11th2ndUSSR Championships5th1st2ndUniversity Games3rd5th6th7thMilan Grand Prix4thWorld Championships8th1st2nd2nd1983USSR Spartakiade3rd1stUSSR Cup2nd1st3rdUSSR Championships5th1st4th6thUSA-USSR Dual Meet6th1stDynamo Spartakiade3rdRiga International1st1st1stWorld Championships3rd2nd1st1985USSR Cup6thUSSR Championships6th8th
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