27th November 2009 07:57
As if Satenik Ghazaryan's personal contributions to the sport as an athlete, coach and event organiser were not enough, she has also built an athletics-family that has worked alongside her and enriched Armenian athletics.
Ghazaryan, who has been named Armenia's national winner for the European Athletics Women's Leadership Award, started out as a competitor and was many times national champion in the middle distance events (800m - 5000m).
After finishing her competitive days, Ghazaryan, 54, began a second career in coaching and has gone on to guide many successful Armenian athletes and lead her country's women's national team at various international competitions. In 2008, she was invited to serve as the head coach of the Kuwaiti women's team.
In her current position as Deputy Director of the Athletics Youth Sport School in the capital Yerevan, one of Ghazaryan's primary responsibilities is to advise other coaches and help them to develop their expertise.
Alongside her various coaching roles, Ghazarayan has become a top organiser of athletics and sports events in Armenia. She has long been a fixture at the country's most important national competitions, either as a referee or competition secretary, and she served as chief secretary for both the first and second Pan-Armenia Games.
But one of Ghazarayan's biggest projects has been the organisation of her country's annual Women's Spartakiade, a national multisport competition designed to bring more women into sport, which she founded in 1998 and has continued to lead until the present.
For this work, the mother of four has drawn on her husband's support. His organisation is one of the event's main partners and, she explains, 'He helps me a lot when we are looking for sponsors for competitions,'
'All my family are a great support for me and they are a source of inspiration in my activities,' she explains.
Ghazaryan's two sons have both been athletes, one a triple jumper while the other followed his mother's footsteps to become Armenian champion in the 800 and 1500 meters.
Her two daughters have also followed her example. Both work as lecturers in athletics and physical education, and her older daughter coaches at a sport school and has served alongside her mother as chief secretary at a number of Armenian competitions.
In addition to her efforts in the day-to-day work of the sport, Ghazaryan has taken on a number of leadership positions. She is a vice-president of the Armenian Women's Olympic Committee and the president of the Women's Committee of the Armenian Athletic Federation. It was in this role that in 2001 she organised the international seminar 'Women in Athletics' in Yerevan.
In recognition of her many contributions to the sport, Ghazaryan was awarded with a special medal by the IAAF in 1998.
As a woman working in sport, Ghazaryan says she has encountered obstacles along the way, but she has remained resilient. She credits a number of company directors and the president of the Armenian Federation, Sargis Khachaturyan, who presented her award on behalf of European Athletics, for investing in her and her cause.
But she realises there is more work to be done. 'In our country it is rather difficult for a woman to independently implement sports activities. It is necessary for her to strengthen her position in the society first, then she can go on,' she says.
Overall, Ghazaryan is encouraged by the direction the sport is taking in Armenia: 'I am happy that athletics is developing and has become significantly more popular among women. The percentage of female coaches has increased compared to several years ago and in coming years women will have a more stable and strong position in our sport.'
'One of our biggest challenges is to find sponsors or financial supporters for events and projects. It requires effort and skills to explain the role and meaning of athletics in a woman's life.'
Ghazaryan believes increased government involvement is necessary for further development: 'In order to facilitate women's activities, first of all, we need assistance and more serious attention from our government. We need financial, psychological and technical support, as well as more mass media coverage.'
For the future, Ghazaryan sees participation as the key to creating future women's leaders in sport: 'One of the main issues in our sport is getting girls involved, which is a very hard job in our country. Nevertheless, year after year the quantity and quality of female performances have significantly improved.'