Kakhi Kakhiashvili

Kakhi Kakhiashvili (born July 13 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.

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.

Kakhiashvili is renowned in weightlifting circles primarily because when he lifted for Georgia, he went against the instructions of his Coach Vasily Vasileev, 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. Khaki 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.

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.

External links

* [http://www.chidlovski.net/liftup/l_galleryResult.asp?a_id=116 Akakide Kakhiashvilis at Lift Up]
* [http://weightliftingexchange.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=222&Itemid=108 Akakide Kakhiashvilis - Hall of Fame at Weightlifting Exchange]
* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ka/akakios-kakhi-kakhiashvili-1.html sports-reference]