Georgia Finishes London Olympics with Seven Medals
Georgian athletes took silver and two bronze medals over the weekend in freestyle wrestling, taking Georgia’s total medal tally at the London 2012 Olympic Games to seven.
Giorgi Gogshelidze, 32, won the bronze medal in men’s 96km freestyle wrestling after defeating Uzbekistan’s Kurban Kurbanov on August 12.
On August 11 Dato Marsagishvili, 21, won the bronze after beating Soslan Gattsiev of Belarus in the men’s 84kg freestyle wrestling.
Also on August 11 Davit Modzmanashvili, 25, took the silver medal after losing to Uzbekistan’s Artur Taymazov in the men’s 120kg freestyle wrestling final.
These recent medals mean that Georgia, which had 35 athletes at London 2012, ended up with total of 7 medals – one gold, three silver and three bronze medals, all of them in judo and wrestling tournaments.
Lasha Shavdatuashvili won the gold medal in the men’s under 66kg judo; Vladimer Khinchegashvili took the silver medal in the men’s 55-kilogram freestyle; Revaz Lashkhi took the silver in the men’s 60kg Greco-Roman wrestling and Manuchar Tskhadaia took the bronze medal in the men’s 66kg Greco-Roman wrestling.
Georgia and Mexico share 39th spot in the London 2012 medal table.
Georgia’s seven medals surpass its medal tally at four previous Summer Olympic Games, but in terms of gold medals fall short of those gained at Beijing 2008 and Athens 2004.
Georgia first sent athletes as an independent state to the Summer Olympic Games in 1996 in Atlanta, winning two bronze medals in freestyle wrestling and judo.
Four years later in Sydney Georgian athletes won six bronze medals (heavyweight boxing; Greco-Roman wrestling; weightlifting; judo and two bronze in freestyle wrestling).
Georgia first Olympic gold came in 2004 in Athens where the Georgian athletes won total of four medals – two gold (judo and weightlifting) and two silver medals (Greco-Roman wrestling and judo).
At Beijing 2008 Georgia had three gold medals (judo; Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling) and three Bronze medals (two in freestyle wrestling and one in women’s 10m air pistol), taking 27th spot in the medal table.
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