*** Welcome to piglix ***

Gocha Tsitsiashvili

Gocha Tsitsiashvili
Personal information
Full name Gocha Tsitsiashvili
Nationality  Israel
Born (1973-11-07) 7 November 1973 (age 43)
Tbilisi, Georgian SSR
Soviet Union
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 84 kg (185 lb)
Sport
Sport Wrestling
Style Greco-Roman
Club Hapoel Be'er Sheva
Coach Otari Tatishvili (1985–1994)
Yakov Masin (1994–2004)

Gocha Tsitsiashvili (Hebrew: גוצ'ה ציציאשווילי‎‎, Georgian: გოჩა ციციაშვილი; born November 7, 1973 in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR) is a retired amateur Israeli Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's light heavyweight category. Considering one of the world's top Greco-Roman wrestlers in his decade, Tsitsiashvili had claimed numerous medals in the international scene, including his prestigious gold from the 2003 World Wrestling Championships, and later represented as part of the Israeli team in three editions of the Olympic Games (1996, 2000, and 2004). Tsitsiashvili also became a member of the Hapoel Be'er Sheva Club under his personal coach Yakov Masin.

Tsitsiashvili started his wrestling career as a member of the former Soviet team. When he emigrated to Israel in 1994, Tsitsiashvili sought his sights to compete in the international arena and eventually take home the silver medal at the European Wrestling Championships in Athens, Greece. The following year, Tsitsiashvili continued to flourish his sporting career by finishing third in the same tournament, and eventually picked up a silver in the 82-kg division at the 1995 World Wrestling Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, making him the first Israeli in history to claim a sporting medal.

As Israel's only wrestler to the team, Tsitsiashvili made his official debut at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, where he competed in the men's middleweight class (82 kg). Being successful early in the opening rounds, he entered the semifinals powerful and undefeated, but fell to Germany's Thomas Zander, and then shortened his chance to compete for the bronze when he was outclassed by Kazakhstan's Daulet Turlykhanov in his next match. With Sweden's Martin Lidberg being frail and injured, Tsitsiashvili managed to finish in fifth at the end of the tournament.


...
Wikipedia

...