Mirian Giorgadze

Mirian Giorgadze
Personal information
Full nameMirian Giorgadze
Nationality Georgia
Born (1976-03-25) 25 March 1976 (age 48)
Terjola, Imereti, Georgian SSR,
Soviet Union
Height1.84 m (6 ft 12 in)
Weight120 kg (265 lb)
Sport
SportWrestling
StyleGreco-Roman
ClubDynamo Tbilisi
CoachVasha Kraveshvili
Medal record
Men's Greco-Roman wrestling
Representing  Georgia
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Varna 120 kg

Mirian Giorgadze (Georgian: მირიან გიორგაძე; born March 25, 1976, in Terjola) is a retired amateur Georgian Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's super heavyweight category.[1] He represented his nation Georgia in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004), and nearly ended his sporting campaign with a blistering bronze medal effort at the 2005 European Championships in Varna, Bulgaria. Giorgadze also trained as part of the Greco-Roman wrestling team for Dynamo Tbilisi under his personal coach Vasha Kraveshvili.

Giorgadze made his official debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where he competed in the men's super heavyweight division (130 kg). He lost two straight matches each to Sweden's Eddy Bengtsson and Belarus' Dmitry Debelka, who later claimed a bronze medal at the end of the tournament in the prelim pool, finishing last out of twenty wrestlers in the overall standings.[2]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Giorgadze qualified for his second Georgian squad in the men's 120 kg class by receiving a berth and placing third from the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro.[3][4] Since his previous Games, Giorgadze could not recover a setback from his former rival Bengtsson on the opening bout, but managed to break a 2–2 draw and score a single triumph over Kazakhstan's Georgiy Tsurtsumia. Giorgadze's devised game plan did not effectively accomplish, as he was haplessly pinned by the host nation's Xenofon Koutsioumpas and Sweden's Eddy Bengtsson without receiving a single point, finishing third in the prelim pool and fifteenth in the overall rankings.[5]

  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Mirian Giorgadze". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  2. ^ "Sydney 2000: Wrestling – Super Heavyweight Greco-Roman (130kg)" (PDF). Sydney 2000. LA84 Foundation. pp. 111–112. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  3. ^ Abbott, Gary (28 July 2004). "Olympic Games preview at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. in men's Greco-Roman". USA Wrestling. The Mat. Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  4. ^ "Gardner titlist in Olympic tuneup". U-T San Diego. 18 July 2004. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  5. ^ "Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 120kg". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 23 September 2013.