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RICHIE ARAKELIAN: WEIGHTLIFTER WHO LEFT ARMENIA TO SET WORLD RECORDS
by Jeremy Rosenberg
KCET .org
http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/landofsunshine/arrival-stories/richie-arakelian-the-weightlifter-who-had-to-leave-armenia.html
March 1 2012
KCET Departures asks, "What's your or your family's Los Angeles
arrival story?"
Today, we hear from world record holding powerlifter, Richie Arakelian:
CHAPTER ONE
"My real name is Hrattchia, but everyone calls me Richie.
"I was born June 16, 1969, in Yerevan, Armenia. I came from a regular
family. My mom was a doctor and my dad was an engineer.
"When I was seven-years-old, I watched on television this Armenian
weightlifter, Yuri Vartanyan, break the world record. I was a little
kid and I liked how he would scream and ding the bell and take the
weights off.
"I knew immediately I wanted to be a professional weightlifter. I got a
piece of wood and I started to simulate training, but in my country -
Armenia was then part of the Soviet Union - they did not let anybody
train unless his parents signed all the required paperwork.
"My parents wouldn't even let me go to the gym. One day I found a way
to get over there and the trainer gave me a packet full of documents.
Every day I asked my parents to sign the papers. Finally, they signed
and that same day I started lifting.
"I haven't stopped since. On January 7th, I squatted 5,175 pounds in
one minute - that is twenty-three reps of 225 pounds - and set a world
record for the fourth time. The first three time each got Guinness
World Records and by the time you're reading this, I expect to have
received the certificate confirming this fourth time as well. (Watch
the YouTube video of the record-setting performance.)
"Today, I'm an American citizen and I live with my wife, Ripsime,
and our son, Hacob, and my mom in a house in Northridge.
"I told you I started training at age seven. By the time I was
eleven-years-old, I was on the Armenian national team. By the time
I was fourteen, I was on the Soviet national team and going to
international competitions.
"I was in high school, but I didn't have the time to go, I was always
training. The team would take me from home to train in different
locations for a month or two before big competitions. One of the
biggest competitions for me was in 1988 in Leipzig, Germany, where
I set a European record for juniors.
"I then went to serve in the Soviet Army, in Special Forces. When
the authorities found out that I was a weightlifter they moved me
from the Army to the Sport Institute
"Then one day, the head of the Soviet team came to my house with
his helper. They asked my dad for 70,000 rubles to take me to the
world championships.
"My dad got really upset. He came from Bulgaria, he grew up there,
but he was Armenian. He said to me, 'You know what? You are going to
leave this country because everything is about money and I don't want
that for you.'
"He saved money to buy he, my mom and me plane tickets to America. But
then the ruble was switched to a new Armenian currency and 100 rubles
went down to approximately ten cents, it was worth nothing. We couldn't
leave. My aunt lived in Boston and my dad asked her for the money
for just one ticket, for me.
"My dad got me my visa and travel passport through the U.S. Embassy
in Moscow and on March 4, 1991 I came to the United States.
"I flew to New York and then I went to Boston. I lived for the next
three months with my aunt. I couldn't speak English at all, nothing. I
only had $20 in my pocket. I didn't have a car, only a bicycle - in the
wintertime, Boston was very tough. Every day I would ride for one hour
and twenty minutes through the snow to get to work at a dry cleaner.
"It took me a month of work to pay off my aunt. I didn't want to
owe anybody.
CHAPTER TWO
"Two months later, still in Boston, I rented a house with some
roommates.
"I went over to visit my aunt. One time, she was watching a wedding
video sent to her by friends in Los Angeles - Glendale, actually -
and I watched it too. This is how I met my wife.
"Her name is Ripsime and I saw her in the wedding video - it wasn't
her wedding!
"I liked her and I asked my aunt how I could contact this woman? My
aunt got me her phone number, through my other aunt who lives in
Glendale. So I called Ripsime and for three months, we spoke by phone
every day.
"Then, on her birthday, I flew here to surprise her.
Richie, Ripsime and Hakop Arakelian. Photo courtesy Richie Arakelian.
"Well, guess who was the surprised one? I took the American Airlines
flight roundtrip from Logan Airport to LAX and my aunt who lived in
Glendale was supposed to come meet me at the airport. She brought
Ripsime with her! I was kind of shell-shocked because I had only seen
her in the video, never physically. It was good.
"We had seven days together. The first place we went to was the Santa
Monica Pier. Before I left, we came back again in the evening to walk
and I asked her to marry me.
"So we got engaged and I went back to Boston again. Then on my birthday
in June, she came to Boston and we decided that we would come back
over here to live and I moved to L.A. and we got married in 1998.
"Everything was fine. We rented a one-bedroom apartment in Glendale.
Unlike Boston, 99% of the people there speak Armenian. It was tough
because it is a totally different place to live and to work than
Boston. It was not as easy but again I found a job. In 2003, we had
our son, Hakop. He is now 8-years-old.
"At the same time, my dad passed away back in Armenia, leaving my
mom by herself.
"I went back for the passing and to be helpful to my mom. When I came
back over we got a visa for her and she came in December 2003. My son
was six months old at that time and it was a really big help for us
because we couldn't afford a babysitter. My wife works in LAUSD and at
the time, I was driving a big truck transporting oil to gas stations.
We bought a town house in Northridge so we could all be a little
more comfortable.
"Right before September 11th, I had been accepted to be a flight
attendant, but the airline industry struggled and there weren't jobs.
"I work now as a security officer and bodyguard. I've done this over
the years in all different kinds of places. One of them is the Barnes
and Noble on the Santa Monica Promenade. They know me pretty well
there. I helped make a big arrest.
"I was on the third floor and I jumped all the way to the first floor,
through the escalators, to catch the guy and not let him out. It took
me a few seconds to get the guy and cuff him. The police came and
they were amazed and asked how did I do all that? I said, 'I have
been trained.'
CHAPTER THREE
"When I came, it was a lot easier to arrive in the U.S. as a tourist
and then get a social security number and work authorization card. I
went to Immigration and applied and within thirty days everything was
completed. For ten years I worked and paid my taxes. My wife is a U.S.
citizen and three years after I got married I received a green card. A
couple of years later, I applied for and received U.S. citizenship.
"Around this same time, I applied to USA Powerlifting to go to
competitions. I was always meaning to break world records, to be a
champion one more time. But they said I had to be a U.S. citizen to
be in USA Powerlifting.
"So I went on the Internet and researched world records. I could still
set some records even if I was unaffiliated with any organization or
team. I found the Guinness world record for weight lifting. I stayed
up until three in the morning and called Guinness' offices in London.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
by Jeremy Rosenberg
KCET .org
http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/landofsunshine/arrival-stories/richie-arakelian-the-weightlifter-who-had-to-leave-armenia.html
March 1 2012
KCET Departures asks, "What's your or your family's Los Angeles
arrival story?"
Today, we hear from world record holding powerlifter, Richie Arakelian:
CHAPTER ONE
"My real name is Hrattchia, but everyone calls me Richie.
"I was born June 16, 1969, in Yerevan, Armenia. I came from a regular
family. My mom was a doctor and my dad was an engineer.
"When I was seven-years-old, I watched on television this Armenian
weightlifter, Yuri Vartanyan, break the world record. I was a little
kid and I liked how he would scream and ding the bell and take the
weights off.
"I knew immediately I wanted to be a professional weightlifter. I got a
piece of wood and I started to simulate training, but in my country -
Armenia was then part of the Soviet Union - they did not let anybody
train unless his parents signed all the required paperwork.
"My parents wouldn't even let me go to the gym. One day I found a way
to get over there and the trainer gave me a packet full of documents.
Every day I asked my parents to sign the papers. Finally, they signed
and that same day I started lifting.
"I haven't stopped since. On January 7th, I squatted 5,175 pounds in
one minute - that is twenty-three reps of 225 pounds - and set a world
record for the fourth time. The first three time each got Guinness
World Records and by the time you're reading this, I expect to have
received the certificate confirming this fourth time as well. (Watch
the YouTube video of the record-setting performance.)
"Today, I'm an American citizen and I live with my wife, Ripsime,
and our son, Hacob, and my mom in a house in Northridge.
"I told you I started training at age seven. By the time I was
eleven-years-old, I was on the Armenian national team. By the time
I was fourteen, I was on the Soviet national team and going to
international competitions.
"I was in high school, but I didn't have the time to go, I was always
training. The team would take me from home to train in different
locations for a month or two before big competitions. One of the
biggest competitions for me was in 1988 in Leipzig, Germany, where
I set a European record for juniors.
"I then went to serve in the Soviet Army, in Special Forces. When
the authorities found out that I was a weightlifter they moved me
from the Army to the Sport Institute
"Then one day, the head of the Soviet team came to my house with
his helper. They asked my dad for 70,000 rubles to take me to the
world championships.
"My dad got really upset. He came from Bulgaria, he grew up there,
but he was Armenian. He said to me, 'You know what? You are going to
leave this country because everything is about money and I don't want
that for you.'
"He saved money to buy he, my mom and me plane tickets to America. But
then the ruble was switched to a new Armenian currency and 100 rubles
went down to approximately ten cents, it was worth nothing. We couldn't
leave. My aunt lived in Boston and my dad asked her for the money
for just one ticket, for me.
"My dad got me my visa and travel passport through the U.S. Embassy
in Moscow and on March 4, 1991 I came to the United States.
"I flew to New York and then I went to Boston. I lived for the next
three months with my aunt. I couldn't speak English at all, nothing. I
only had $20 in my pocket. I didn't have a car, only a bicycle - in the
wintertime, Boston was very tough. Every day I would ride for one hour
and twenty minutes through the snow to get to work at a dry cleaner.
"It took me a month of work to pay off my aunt. I didn't want to
owe anybody.
CHAPTER TWO
"Two months later, still in Boston, I rented a house with some
roommates.
"I went over to visit my aunt. One time, she was watching a wedding
video sent to her by friends in Los Angeles - Glendale, actually -
and I watched it too. This is how I met my wife.
"Her name is Ripsime and I saw her in the wedding video - it wasn't
her wedding!
"I liked her and I asked my aunt how I could contact this woman? My
aunt got me her phone number, through my other aunt who lives in
Glendale. So I called Ripsime and for three months, we spoke by phone
every day.
"Then, on her birthday, I flew here to surprise her.
Richie, Ripsime and Hakop Arakelian. Photo courtesy Richie Arakelian.
"Well, guess who was the surprised one? I took the American Airlines
flight roundtrip from Logan Airport to LAX and my aunt who lived in
Glendale was supposed to come meet me at the airport. She brought
Ripsime with her! I was kind of shell-shocked because I had only seen
her in the video, never physically. It was good.
"We had seven days together. The first place we went to was the Santa
Monica Pier. Before I left, we came back again in the evening to walk
and I asked her to marry me.
"So we got engaged and I went back to Boston again. Then on my birthday
in June, she came to Boston and we decided that we would come back
over here to live and I moved to L.A. and we got married in 1998.
"Everything was fine. We rented a one-bedroom apartment in Glendale.
Unlike Boston, 99% of the people there speak Armenian. It was tough
because it is a totally different place to live and to work than
Boston. It was not as easy but again I found a job. In 2003, we had
our son, Hakop. He is now 8-years-old.
"At the same time, my dad passed away back in Armenia, leaving my
mom by herself.
"I went back for the passing and to be helpful to my mom. When I came
back over we got a visa for her and she came in December 2003. My son
was six months old at that time and it was a really big help for us
because we couldn't afford a babysitter. My wife works in LAUSD and at
the time, I was driving a big truck transporting oil to gas stations.
We bought a town house in Northridge so we could all be a little
more comfortable.
"Right before September 11th, I had been accepted to be a flight
attendant, but the airline industry struggled and there weren't jobs.
"I work now as a security officer and bodyguard. I've done this over
the years in all different kinds of places. One of them is the Barnes
and Noble on the Santa Monica Promenade. They know me pretty well
there. I helped make a big arrest.
"I was on the third floor and I jumped all the way to the first floor,
through the escalators, to catch the guy and not let him out. It took
me a few seconds to get the guy and cuff him. The police came and
they were amazed and asked how did I do all that? I said, 'I have
been trained.'
CHAPTER THREE
"When I came, it was a lot easier to arrive in the U.S. as a tourist
and then get a social security number and work authorization card. I
went to Immigration and applied and within thirty days everything was
completed. For ten years I worked and paid my taxes. My wife is a U.S.
citizen and three years after I got married I received a green card. A
couple of years later, I applied for and received U.S. citizenship.
"Around this same time, I applied to USA Powerlifting to go to
competitions. I was always meaning to break world records, to be a
champion one more time. But they said I had to be a U.S. citizen to
be in USA Powerlifting.
"So I went on the Internet and researched world records. I could still
set some records even if I was unaffiliated with any organization or
team. I found the Guinness world record for weight lifting. I stayed
up until three in the morning and called Guinness' offices in London.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress