Kakhi Kakhiashvili

Kakhi Kakhiashvili (Georgian: კახი კახიაშვილი, Greek: Ακάκιος Κακιασβίλης; born 13 July 1969 in Tskhinvali, South Ossetian AO, Georgian SSR, USSR) is a Georgian-Greek weightlifter, is one of only four weightlifters to have won three consecutive gold medals at Olympic Games. He won his first at Barcelona 1992, competing with the Unified Team, and later as a citizen of Greece at Atlanta 1996 and in Sydney 2000.[1] He won three Senior World Championships (1995, 1998, 1999), was twice a silver medalist at the Senior World Championships (1993 and 1994), and set seven world records during his career.[2]

Akakios Kakiasvilis

Personal information
Birth name	Kakhi Kakhiashvili
Nationality	Georgian
Born	13 July 1969 Tskhinvali, Georgian SSR
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Sport
Sport	Weightlifting
Medal record Representing  Georgia World Championships 1993 Melbourne –91 kg European Championships 1993 Sofia –91 kg 1994 Sokolov –91 kg Men's weightlifting Representing the  Unified Team Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona –90 kg European Championships 1992 Szekszard –90 kg Representing  Greece Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta –99 kg 2000 Sydney –94 kg World Championships 1994 Istanbul –91 kg 1995 Guangzhou –99 kg 1998 Lahti –94 kg 1999 Athens –94 kg European Championships 1995 Warsaw –91 kg 1996 Stavanger –99 kg 1998 Riesa –94 kg 1999 Lacoruna –94 kg

Kakhiashvili was born in Tskhinvali, Georgia, to a Georgian father and a Greek mother, Maria Lamprianidi. He is renowned in weightlifting circles for his uncanny ability to lift exactly what was required to win. Dubbed as a "computer" by some competitors, he also had the ability to block out everything that was not relevant to the competition at hand.

Career

At the 1992 Summer Olympics lifting for the Unified Team in the 90 kg category, he went against the instructions of his coach Vasily Alexeev, the all-time weightlifting great. His coach wanted his Russian teammate Sergey Syrtsov to win the contest and did not let Kakhiashvili try to lift heavier to beat the Russian. During the snatch portion of the competition, it looked like Sergey Syrtsov was going to win, with a 12.5 kg lead over Kakhiashvili from an Olympic Record 190.0 kg snatch. During the clean & jerk portion of the competition Kakhiashvili lifted 225.0 kg on his second attempt, giving him a total of 402.5 kg, a full 10.0 kg less than Syrstov. Kakhi ordered 10 kg more to be put on the bar in order to beat his Russian teammate. He successfully lifted the 235.0 kg clean and jerk,[3] giving him a total of 412.5 kg. Event though his total tied Syrstov, Kakhiashvili won the gold medal due to virtue of a lighter bodyweight,[4] (89.25 kg vs. 89.45 kg) this performance established his right to the title of one of the sports elite lifters.[5]

Major results

[6][7]

Year	Venue	Weight	Snatch (kg)				Clean & Jerk (kg)				Total	Rank
			1	2	3	Rank	1	2	3	Rank
Olympic Games
1992	Barcelona, Spain	–90 kg	170.0	175.0	177.5	2	220.0	225.0	235.0 =WR	1	412.5 =OR
1996	Atlanta, United States	–99 kg	180.0	185.0	187.5	3	220.0	225.0	235.0 WR	1	420.0 WR
2000	Sydney, Australia	–94 kg	180.0	185.0	187.5	1	220.0	—	—	3	405.0
2004	Athens, Greece	–94 kg	180.0	180.0	185.0	4	220.0	220.0	220.0	—	—	—
World Championships
1993	Melbourne, Australia	–91 kg	175.0	180.0	180.0		200.0	215.0	225.0		402.5
1994	Istanbul, Turkey	–91 kg	172.5	177.5	180.0		210.0	220.0	230.0		397.5
1995	Guangzhou, China	–99 kg	182.5	182.5	187.5		225.0	227.5	230.0		410.0
1998	Lahti, Finland	–94 kg	175.0	180.0	182.5		215.0	220.0	—		400.0
1999	Athens, Greece	–94 kg	180.0	185.0	188.0 WR		222.5	225.0	230.5		412.5 WR[8]^[a]
European Championships
1992	Szekszárd, Hungary	–90 kg	175.0				225.0				400.0
1993	Sofia, Bulgaria	–91 kg	180.0				222.5				402.5
1994	Sokolov, Czech Republic	–91 kg	180.0				200.0				400.0
1995	Warsaw, Poland	–91 kg	180.0				228.5 WR				407.5
1996	Stavanger, Norway	–99 kg	165.0	170.0	175.0		210.0	222.5	—		392.5
1998	Riesa, Germany	–94 kg	165.0	170.0	172.5	4	207.5	210.0	212.5		380.0
1999	A Coruña, Spain	–94 kg	172.5	177.5	180.0		217.5	222.5	225.0		402.5
2003	Loutraki, Greece	–94 kg	167.5	175.0	177.5	5	—	—	—	—	—	—
2004	Kiev, Ukraine	–94 kg	172.5	177.5	177.5	6	215.0	215.0	220.0	4	392.5	4
Junior World Championships
1988	Athens, Greece	–82.5 kg	170.0				NA			NA	NA	NA
1989	Fort Lauderdale, United States	–90 kg	170.0				225.0 JWR				395.0

Notes and references

• ^a Not a world record at the time of the competition, became a world record when IWF decided to eliminate the world standards from the list of World Records on 24 June 2008.[9]

1. Akakios Kakiasvili Bio, Stats, and Results. Sports Reference. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
2. Akakide Kakhiashvilis @ Lift Up Hall of Fame. Lift Up. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
3. "Kakhi Kakhiashvili 1992 Olympics Barcelona Gold". All Things Gym. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
4. "Olympic Profile". Olympic.org. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
5. Randall J. Strossen. (21 July 2009). Kakhi Kakhiashvili: David Versus Goliath in the Weightlifting World. IronMind. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
6. "Kakiasvilis Akakios (GRE)". Database Weightlifting (in German).
7. "World Championships Juniors 1997-2007 and Statistics" (PDF). pp. 84, 100.
8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-24. Retrieved 2014-11-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) iwf.net. Retrieved on 2009-06-13
9. "IWF eliminates World Standards from World Record list". International Weightlifting Federation. 24 June 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2017.

External links

• Akakide Kakhiashvilis at Lift Up
• Akakide Kakhiashvilis – Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange
• Akakios Kakiasvili at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Akakios Kakiasvilis at the International Olympic Committee