 At the 1983 World Weightlifting Championships, Vardanyan's friends and teammates Oksen Mirzoyan and Yurik Sarkisyan had also won the gold medal in their respective divisions, meaning that Armenians had come in first in the world in three of the ten divisions.Vardanyan faced defeat for the only time in the light heavyweight weight class at the 1984 European Weightlifting Championships, coming in second to Zlatev.Because of the 1984 Summer Olympics boycott, Vardanyan was unable to compete at the Olympics that year, despite being a massive gold medal favorite.