Armenia at the 1994 Winter Olympics

Armenia became an independent nation again following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.[1] The National Olympic Committee of Armenia was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 31 December 1992.[2] The Lillehammer games were Armenia's first as an independent nation, they have gone on to participate in every Summer and Winter Olympics since.[3] The 1994 Winter Olympics were held from 12–27 February 1994, a total of 1,737 athletes took part, representing 67 National Olympic Committees.[4] The Armenian delegation to Lillehammer consisted of two bobsledders, Ken Topalian and Joe Almasian.[5]

The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.[6]

Ken Topalian was 30 years old at the time of the Lillehammer Games, and is from Pawtucket, Rhode Island.[7] Joe Almasian was 26 years old at the time, and was born in Framingham, Massachusetts.[8] They were friends through the Armenian Youth League, neither had ever been to Armenia.[7] The two-man bobsleigh competition was held over two days, 19–20 February, with two runs being held on each day; the sum of all four run times was used to determine final placement.[9] On the first day, the Armenian sled posted times of 54.85 seconds[10] and 55.03 seconds.[11] Overnight, they were in 37th place out of 43 competing teams.[12] The next day, their run times were 54.92 seconds[13] and 55.01 seconds[14] This made their total time for the competition 3 minutes and 39.81 seconds, which put them in 36th position.[9] The gold and silver medals were won by Swiss sleds, and the bronze was taken by an Italian team.[9]