Coach of Armenian origin Armine Barutyan suspended from work in the United States

The U.S. Center for SafeSport has imposed disciplinary sanctions on well-known American artistic gymnastics coaches — spouses Al Fong and Armine Barutyan. According to the organization’s database, both Fong and Barutyan were found guilty of physical and emotional misconduct toward athletes.

Al Fong has been suspended from coaching until December 22, 2030, while his wife Armine Barutyan received a one-year disqualification. Both coaches are founders and directors of the Great American Gymnastics Express (GAGE) center in Missouri, one of the most renowned gymnastics schools in the United States, which has produced Olympic and world medalists.

GAGE management has already stated that it disagrees with SafeSport’s conclusions and intends to challenge the decision through arbitration. The official statement emphasizes that the findings were made without eyewitness testimony and do not reflect the full context of the situation.

Armine Barutyan is a former gymnast of the USSR national team and a native of Armenia. In the early 1980s, she was considered one of the most promising athletes of her generation. Barutyan won medals at international competitions, including junior events of Eastern Bloc countries, the Friendship Cup, and the Moncada Cup in Spain. At the 1983 USSR Championships, she performed some of the most difficult elements of her time, including a double tucked salto and a triple salto on the uneven bars.

According to Barutyan herself, her athletic career was complicated by political factors: her refusal to relocate closer to Moscow and change her surname led to conflict with the system, after which she was removed from the national team. After retiring in 1988, she emigrated to the United States, where she began her coaching career and worked at GAGE for more than 20 years. In recent years, Barutyan was also part of the U.S. national team coaching staff at junior international competitions.