Artur Akopyan

Artur Akopyan (Armenian: Արթուր Հակոբյան 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.

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.

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.^[1][2][3][4] He served as a member of the national team coaching staff from 1989 to 2004.^[5]

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.^[6]

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.^[7]

• Artur Akopyan at World Gymnastics