Vahram Papazyan (athlete)

Vahram Papazyan (1892 to 1986) was an Armenian middle-distance runner from Istanbul who took part in two early Olympic Games under the flag of the Ottoman Empire. Born in the Ottoman capital, the son of a newsstand owner, he is said to have run each morning from his home in Bebek to the Babiali to collect newspapers and then on to Robert College, where he studied. At the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens he entered the 800 metres and 1,500 metres, and at the age of 13 years and 256 days he was the youngest man to compete there. For the 1912 Stockholm Olympics he answered a newspaper advertisement placed by the Turkish Olympic committee, and his trip was paid for by the Armenian sports club Ardavast, which staged a play to raise the money. Papazyan, together with fellow Armenian Migirdic Migiryan, made up the whole of the Ottoman team in the empire's first official Olympic appearance, and he started the men's 800 metres and 1,500 metres but did not finish either race. Accounts differ about why he stopped: one Turkish source speaks of dizziness, while his grandson recalled a decision linked to the raising of the flag. After graduating in 1913 he helped found the Armenian General Athletic Association, later settled in the United States, and worked for Eddy and Company in Providence, Rhode Island, for more than 35 years.