Kakhi Kakhiashvili

Akakios Kakiasvilis

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

Akakios Kakiasvilis or Kakhi Kakhiashvili (Georgian: კახი კახიაშვილი, Greek: Ακάκιος Κακιασβίλης; born 13 July 1969 in Tskhinvali, South Ossetian AO, Georgian SSR, USSR), 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]

Kakhiashvili was born in Tskhinvali, Georgia, to a Georgian father and a Greek mother, Maria Lamprianidi. He is renowned in weightlifting circles primarily because when he lifted for Georgia, he went against the instructions of his Coach Vasily Alexeev, the all-time weightlifting great. His coach wanted a Russian boy to take the contest and did not let Kakhiashvili try to lift heavier to beat the Russian. Kakhi however ordered a full extra 10 kilos to be put on in order to beat his Russian teammate. He won, lifting the weight in a spectacular fashion that established his right to the title of one of the sports elite lifters.^[3] Kakhiashvili is also 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 bests

• Snatch: 188.0 kg 1999 in Athens in the class to 94 kg (World record).^[4]
• Clean and Jerk: 235.0 kg 1992 Summer Olympics in the class to 90 kg.
• Total: 412.0 kg (188.0 + 225.0)^[5] 1999 in Athen in the class to 94 kg (World record).^[4]
• Total: 420.0 kg (185.0 + 235.0) 1996 Summer Olympics in the class to 99 kg.^[6]

Notes and references

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. Randall J. Strossen. (21 July 2009). Kakhi Kakhiashvili: David Versus Goliath in the Weightlifting World. IronMind. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
4. http://www.iwf.net/results/record_cur.php iwf.net. Retrieved on 2009-06-13
5. 413.0 kg = weight lifted, 412.0 kg = weight standard.
6. Database Weightlifting. Kakiasvilis Akakios (GRE). In: <http://www.iat.uni-leipzig.de/datenbanken/dbgwh/daten.php?spid=DE599A40186F4B83998A9DFFEF474D2B>. Retrieved on 2009-06-14.

External links

• Akakide Kakhiashvilis at Lift Up
• Akakide Kakhiashvilis - Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange
• Sports-reference
• Akakide Kakhiashvilis at Database Weightlifting