Akakios Kachiasvilis

	Akakios Kachiasvilis
	Personal information
Surname:	Akakios Kachiasvilis
Nationality:	Greece
Date of birth:	July 13, 1969
Place of birth:	Tskhinvali , Georgian SSR
Size:	176 cm
Medal table
Olympic games
World championships; duel
Tear
Bump

Akakios Kachiasvilis ( Greek Ακάκιος Καχιασβίλης ), born as Kachi Kachiaschwili ( Georgian კახი კახიაშვილი ), (born July 13, 1969 in Tskhinvali , Georgian SSR ) is a former Greek weightlifter who won Olympic gold for two different nations.

Personal

Born in Georgia with Greek roots on his mother's side (see Greek minority in Georgia ), Kachiasvilis first competed for the Soviet Union before taking part in the 1992 Olympic Games under the United Team flag. Kachiasvilis then started for Georgia in 1993 and 1994, before finally taking on Greek citizenship in 1994.

Athletic career

With a gold medal each at the Olympic Games in 1992 and 2000 in the middle heavyweight division and in 1996 in the heavyweight division, as well as three world championship titles in 1995, 1998 and 1999, Kachiasvilis is one of the most successful weightlifters of all time.

Kachiasvilis began his international career with the 1992 European Championships in Szekszárd , where the previously unknown lifter with 400 kg in a duel (175.0 kg / 225.0 kg) took first place in the middle-heavy weight category up to 90 kg. He was also a candidate for a medal for the 1992 Olympic Games and confirmed this with 412.5 kg in a duel. After he had finished the snatch with 177.5 kg, he was 12.5 kg behind the Russian Sergei Syrzow , then caught it in the push while setting the world record with 235.0 kg and ultimately won due to the lower body weight.

After changing the weight classes, Kachiasvilis Limit was now 91 kg. Here he started for the first time at the EM 1993 in Sofia, where he achieved 402.5 kg (180.0 kg / 222.5 kg). While he was able to outclass the runner-up here by 12.5 kg, the same result at the World Cup in the same year was only enough for second place. First was Ivan Chakarow kg with 407.5, third Anatoli Chrapaty with 395.0 kg.

Kachiasvilis also had to be content with second place at the 1994 European Championships and the 1994 World Cup. Both times, the Russian Alexei Petrow relegated him from first place. It was not until the European Championships in May 1995 in Warsaw that Kachiasvilis was able to assert himself again and won with 407.5 kg and 20 kg behind the runner-up. In November for the World Cup he started in the 1st heavyweight up to 99 kg and, like the second Sergei Syrzow, achieved 410.0 kg, but weighed less, which brought him gold.

In April 1996 Kachiasvilis competed at the European Championships in Stavanger and lifted a total of 392.5 kg. But already at the Olympic Games in July he was able to increase to 420.0 kg (185.0 kg / 235.0 kg) and thus won his second Olympic gold ahead of Anatoli Chrapaty with 410.0 kg and Gotfrid with 402.5 kg .

After he did not take part in any international competitions in 1997, he competed in the European Championships in Riesa in 1998 in the new middleweight up to 94 kg. With 380.0 kg in a duel, he reached third place behind Chakarow and Caruso , who secured all three gold medals.

However, he had overcome his form low at the World Championships in the same year, there again achieved 400.0 kg and won gold in front of Caruso with 395.0 kg and Leonidas Kokas with 392.5 kg.

In 1999 he had to cede first place at the European Championship to Poland's Szymon Kołecki , but relegated him to second place at the World Cup in the same year with 412.5 kg to 405.0 kg.

At what was now his third Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, Kachiasvilis was able to secure the gold medal after 185.0 kg in the snatch with 220.0 kg in the push due to his lower body weight. Kolecki was second with 405.0 kg, Petrow third with 402.5 kg.

With the aim of being the only weightlifter to win four Olympic gold medals, he tried a comeback to the 2004 Olympic Games in his own country. The first stop for this was the 2003 European Championship in Loutraki, where he stopped bumping after 177.5 kg in the snatch and thus a fifth place. He was also unable to prevail at the 2004 European Championships in Kiev and finished fourth with 392.5 kg in a duel (177.5 / 215.0 kg). At the Olympic Games, Kachiasvilis started with 180.0 kg in the tear, which he could only master in the second attempt, and then did not bring his last tear attempt with 185.0 kg to the high distance. In pushing he planned to enter the competition with 220.0 kg, but with three invalid attempts he could not bring in a duel score.

Others

Kachiasvilis was best known for his standing butt technique. His impact of 235.0 kg in Barcelona in 1992 remains to this day (as of November 2009) the highest weight that was struck at an international championship while standing.

Personal best

Tear: 188.0 kg at the 1999 World Championships in Athens in the class up to 94 kg (current world record).
Bump: 235.0 kg at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona in the 90 kg class.
Duel: 413.0 kg (188.0 / 225.0 kg) at the 1999 World Championships in Athens in the class up to 94 kg (current world record with 412.0 kg).
Combat: 420.0 kg (185.0 / 235.0 kg) at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta in the class up to 99 kg.