Davit Chakvetadze
Russia
Wrestling
Overall Rankings
#6 among Russian Olympians
#4 among Wrestlers
#3 among Russian Wrestlers
Olympic Results
2016
Greco-Roman Light-Heavyweight - Gold
Total
Events - 1
Gold - 1
Davit Gochaevich Chakvetadze was born on October 18, 1992 in Kutaisi, Georgia (the country, not the state), and while he learned to wrestle in his home country, he moved to Russia in 2013 due to the stronger Greco-Roman wrestling program.
In 2015, he took first place at the European Championships, and second place in the World Championships, in addition to winning the Russian National Championship, thus earning himself a spot on the Russian Olympic team for 2016.
Competing in the Light-Heavyweight class, he entered the Olympics ranked #3 in the world in his weight class, but didn't receive a first-round bye, as these were decided randomly. After winning his first match 3-0, he achieved a pin in the second round, the only one in the entire tournament for his weight class.
He then shut out his third opponent as well, before winning his semifinal match 7-1 to move on to the final against Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine, who was the defending world champion and was ranked #1 in the world. Beleniuk took a 2-0 lead in the first period, but Chakvetadze shut him out in the second period, scoring 9 consecutive points to win the gold medal.
He suffered through multiple injuries in the years after winning his gold medal, but still attempted to compete again in 2021, but he did not qualify after losing in the European championships. Though he only competed in one Olympic event, he was completely dominant throughout, only trailing in the final match, which he ended up winning decisively, and that makes him one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment