V. Margvelashvili is a Georgian judoka who was born on October 3, 1993. He placed second at the next Olympic Games in the men’s 66 kilogramme division after winning gold at the 2016 European Judo Championships.
At the 2021 Judo World Masters in Doha, Qatar, he placed third in his division, earning himself a bronze medal. A few months later, at the 2021 European Judo Championships in Lisbon, Portugal, he won silver in the men’s 66 kg division.
V. Margvelashvili competed in the 2022 Judo Grand Slam Paris, which was held in Paris, France, and he brought home one of the bronze medals.
Contents
Georgia at Tokyo Olympics: Judoka V. Margvelashvili Claims Silver
V. Margvelashvili, a judoka from Georgia, won the country’s first-ever Olympic medal in Tokyo: a silver. Margvelashvili, aged 27, lost to Abe Hifumi, aged 23 and from Japan, in the -66 kilogramme division.
Vazha Margvelashvili, who won gold in 2016, bronze in 2019, and silver in 2021 at European Championships and bronze at the World Championship in 2017, has finally won an Olympic gold medal.
V. Margvelashvili has made the entire country of Georgia proud, according to President Salome Zurabishvili. Among the 34 competitors representing Georgia in the Olympic Games in Tokyo is V. Margvelashvili.
In an effort to further incentivize the Georgian athletes, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated a cash prize of one million GEL will be awarded to each gold medal winner.
After a one-year hiatus from competition, Olympic champion Lasha Bekauri (90 kg) won the Oberwart European Open 2022 on Sunday.
Georgia Wins First Two Olympic Medals in Tokyo
Georgia’s first two medals came from judokas V. Margvelashvili and Lasha Shavdatuashvili in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
On July 25, Japanese Judoka Hifumi Abe, 23, defeated V. Margvelashvili, 28, in the final of the men’s 66kg category. At the semifinal level, V. Margvelashvili had advanced after a thrilling overtime victory over An Baul of South Korea.
The bronze medal was V. Margvelashvili first Olympic achievement. He has competed in and won multiple judo tournaments, and has taken home multiple medals of various metals.
V. Margvelashvili, 29, won a silver medal after losing to Shohei Ono, also 29, of Japan in the 73 kilogramme finals today.
In the semi-finals, Shavdatuashvili had beaten the South Korean’s An Chang-rim. Medalist Shavdatuashvili made it three during his career in the Olympics.
He took home the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London and the bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Shavdatuashvili has won the judo world championship twice and the European championship once.
Conclusion
At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, 35 Georgian competitors will represent their country in 11 different events.
The Georgian government has offered million dollar prizes to the top finishers (USD 324,000). On July 23, Tokyo hosted the opening ceremony for the 32nd Summer Olympics, which will run through August 8.
The Games were originally scheduled for 2020, however they were moved to 2021 because to the COVID-19 epidemic.
