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Georgia Finishes Tokyo Olympics with Record 8 Medals

Georgian Karateka Gogita Arkania carrying Georgian flag at the closing ceremony of Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic games. Photo: Ministry of Culture and Sports

Georgia finished the 2020 Tokyo Games with record 8 Olympic medals, landing 33rd on the medal table. Georgian athletes won two golds, five silvers, and one bronze in judo, weightlifting, and wrestling.

Judoka Lasha Bekauri won gold in the men’s 90 kg category.

Lasha Talakhadze won his second consecutive Olympic gold medal in men’s over 109kg weightlifting, improving his three world records and becoming the first Georgian athlete with two Olympic golds.

Wrestler Iakob Kajaia won Olympic silver in 130kg Greco-Roman wrestling, and wrestler Geno Petriashvili secured silver in men’s 125 kg freestyle wrestling, his second Olympic medal after bronze at Rio 2016.

Judoka Lasha Shavdatuashvili secured silver in the 73 kg category, his third Olympic medal after Gold at London 2012, and bronze at Rio 2016. Judoka Guram Tushishvili and Judoka Vazha Margvelashvili also won Olympic silvers in +100kg and 66 kg categories, respectively.

Weightlifter Anton Pliesnoi won bronze in men’s 96kg.

Another highlight of Tokyo 2020 games was Nino Salukvadze, Georgian sports shooter and three times Olympic medalist, making history as a first woman to compete in nine straight Olympic Games.

35 Georgian athletes in 11 sports competed in Tokyo. The 33rd place in the medal table is the third-best result for Georgia after Beijing 2008 (28th) and Athens 2004 (32nd).

As an independent country, Georgia debuted in the Summer Olympic Games at Atlanta 1996, winning two bronze medals – one in freestyle wrestling and another in judo.

Four years later in Sydney, team Georgian won six bronze medals (heavyweight boxing; Greco-Roman wrestling; weightlifting; judo, and two bronze medals in freestyle wrestling).

Georgia’s first Olympic gold came in 2004 in Athens where the Georgian athletes won a total of four medals – two gold (judo and weightlifting) and two silver medals (Greco-Roman wrestling and judo).

At Beijing 2008 Georgia won three gold medals – the best ever result for the country (judo; Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling), as well as three bronze medals (two in freestyle wrestling and one in women’s 10m air pistol).

At London 2012 Georgia ended up with a total of 7 medals – one gold, three silver and three bronze, all of them in judo and wrestling tournaments.

At Rio 2016 Georgia again secured 7 medals – two gold, one silver, and four bronze in weightlifting, judo, and wrestling.

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