Kakhi Kakhiashvili (, ; born 13 July 1969 in Tskhinvali, Georgian SSR, USSR) is a Georgian-Greek weightlifter, one of only six 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. 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.Akakide Kakhiashvilis @ Lift Up Hall of Fame. Lift Up. Retrieved 4 November 2015. He was named the 1996 and 1999 Greek Male Athlete of the Year.
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, 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, (89.25 kg vs. 89.45 kg) this performance established his right to the title of one of the sports elite lifters.Randall J. Strossen. (21 July 2009). Kakhi Kakhiashvili: David Versus Goliath in the Weightlifting World. IronMind. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
Major results
Year Venue Weight Snatch (kg) Clean & Jerk (kg) Total Rank 1 2 3 Rank 1 2 3 RankOlympic Games1992 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 2 220.0 — — 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 iwf.net. Retrieved on 2009-06-13 European Championships1992 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 Kyiv, Ukraine –94 kg 172.5 177.5 177.5 6 215.0 215.0 220.0 4 392.5 4 Junior World Championships1988 Athens, Greece –82.5 kg 170.0 1989 Fort Lauderdale, United States –90 kg 170.0 225.0 JWR 395.0
Notes 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.
References
External links
Akakide Kakhiashvilis at the Lift Up Hall of Fame Akakide Kakhiashvilis – Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange