Omar Pkhakadze

Omar Pkhakadze

Omar Pkhakadze in 1967
Personal information
Born 8 December 1944
Kutaisi, Georgia
Died 21 May 1993 (aged 48)
Tbilisi, Georgia
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 95 kg (209 lb)
Sport
Sport Cycling
Club Dynamo Tbilisi

Omar Pkhakadze (Georgian: ომარ ფხაკაძე, Russian: Омар Пхакадзе; 8 December 1944 21 May 1993) was a Georgian sprint cyclist. He competed for the Soviet Union at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and finished in fourth and third place in 1968 and 1972, respectively, winning the first Soviet Olympic medal in sprint cycling.[1] In 1965 he also became the first Soviet sprinter to win a world title; he finished third in 1966 and second in 1969. During his career he won 10 national titles – in 1963, 1964 and 1966–1973.[2]

He was born in a poor family; his father was handicapped in war and died when Phakadze was 15, leaving his wife with four children. The same year, Phakadze started training in cycling. He retired after the 1972 Olympics and worked as a cycling coach, training the Soviet team between 1978 and 1984 and becoming the first president of the Georgian Cycling Federation. He married Donara Dzhanukashvili (Russian: Донара Джанукашвили), a former competitive gymnast.[2]

In 1987 he and Georgian Olympic wrestler Levan Tediashvili played two heroes in the historical Georgian film Khareba da Gogia.[3] The film director Georgiy Shengelaya chose them instead of professional actors for their athletism, charisma and energy required for these roles; their assistants in the film were also played by sportsmen, world champions in wrestling.[2]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Omar Pkhakadze.
  1. Omar Pkhak'adze. Sports-reference.com
  2. 1 2 3 Arsen Yeremyan (August 2009). Magazine RussClub #8 2009 МОЛНИЯ НА ТРЕКЕ. Russki Club, #8, pp. 28–31
  3. Omar Pkhakadze. imdb.com
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, August 25, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.