Muchran Vakhtangadze

Muchran Vakhtangadze (born January 22, 1973 in Batumi , Ajarian ASSR , Georgian SSR ) is a former Georgian wrestler . He won a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and was world champion in 2001 , both in the Greco-Roman middleweight division .

Career

Muchran Vakhtangadze began wrestling in 1985 at the age of twelve. He focused on the Greco-Roman style and was a member of the Dynamo Batumi sports club . His coaches were mainly Khodersi Bolkvadze and Djoni Rechwiaschwili. During his wrestling career he already studied sport and after finishing his wrestling career became director of a sports school in Batumi. In his spare time he works as a songwriter and performs as a singer.

He played his first international championship in 1994, after he became Georgian middleweight champion for the first time that year. At the European Championships in Athens in 1994 , however, he was eliminated very early and only finished 19th. Also in the following years, apart from a 3rd place at the Universities World Cup in Ankara , he did not take any top positions at the international championships. Only at the European Championships in Moscow in 2000 he reached a single-digit result with a 6th place in the middleweight division , which was won by Martin Lidberg from Sweden . His performance at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney was all the more surprising. He was much improved there and surprisingly won a bronze medal in the middleweight division with victories over Toomas Proovel from Estonia , Raatbek Sanatbajew from Kyrgyzstan , Valeri Zilenz from Belarus , a defeat against Hamza Yerlikaya from Turkey and a victory over Fritz Aanes from Norway .

In 2001 he took 6th place at the European Championships in Moscow. At the World Cup this year in Patras , Greece , he surprised all competitors again and became world champion with victories over Attila Bátky from Slovakia , Dimitar Stojanow Nikolow, Bulgaria , Martin Lidberg, Oleksandr Darahan , Ukraine and Matt Lindland from the United States .

In 2002 he only took part in the World Cup in Moscow, where he finished 9th after victories over Sándor Bárdosi from Hungary and Dimitrios Avramis from Greece and a defeat against Mohamad Abd El Fatah from Egypt . At the 2003 European Championships in Belgrade, however, he fought for a bronze medal with victories over Gotcha Ziziaschwili , Israel , Kosta Kostanjevic, Croatia, Nazmi Avluca , Turkey and Valeri Zilenz, after losing to Levon Geghamjan from Armenia in the semi-finals . That was the last medal he won in an international championship. However, his 6th place at the 2003 World Cup in Créteil , which he achieved with victories over Wadislaw Metodiew, Bulgaria, Fred de Vos, Netherlands and Melonin Noumonvi from France , in a defeat against Attila Bátky, was also remarkable.

In 2004 he also started at the Olympic Games in Athens. He came there after a loss to Mohamed Abd El Fatah and a win over Bradley Vering from the United States only in 18th place. Finally, he performed similarly at the 2005 World Cup in Budapest , where he lost to Reza Zeidvand from Iran and only came in 19th place. Then he ended his international wrestling career.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
1994	19th	EM in Athens	medium	Winner: Thomas Zander , Germany ahead of Gotcha Ziziaschwili, Israel
1994	14th	World Cup in Tampere	medium	Winner: Thomas Zander ahead of Tuomo Karila , Finland
1996	24.	EM in Budapest	medium	Winner: Hamza Yerlikaya, Turkey ahead of Péter Farkas , Hungary
1998	3.	Universities World Cup in Ankara	medium	behind Seyit Özdemir, Turkey and Sahat Neemetpour, Iran
1998	7th	Military World Cup in Zagreb	medium	Winner: David Millien, France ahead of Igor Bugaj, Ukraine
1999	24.	World Cup in Athens	medium	Winner: Luis Enrique Mendez , Cuba ahead of Thomas Zander
2000	19th	Olympic qualification tournament in Faenza	medium	Winner: Alexander Menschtschikow , Russia, ahead of Fritz Aanes, Norway
2000	24.	Olympic qualification tournament in Clermont-Ferrand	medium	Winner: Hamza Yerlikaya ahead of Sergei Zwir , Russia
2000	6th	EM in Moscow	medium	Winner: Martin Lidberg, Sweden, ahead of Andrei Batura, Belarus
2000	bronze	OS in Sydney	medium	after victories over Toomas Proovel, Estonia, Raatbek Sanatbajew, Kyrgyzstan and Valeri Zilenz, Belarus, a defeat against Hamza Yerlikaya and a victory over Fritz Aanes
2001	6th	EM in Istanbul	medium	Winner. Hamza Yerlikaya ahead of Marcin Letki , Poland
2001	1.	World Cup in Patras	medium	after victories over Attila Bátky, Slovakia, Dimitar Stojanow Nikolow, Bulgaria, Martin Lidberg, Oleksandr Darahan, Ukraine and Matt James Lindland, USA
2002	9.	World Cup in Moscow	medium	after victories over Sandor Bardosi, Hungary and Dimitrios Avramis, Greece and a defeat against Mohamad Abd El Fatah, Egypt
2003	3.	EM in Belgrade	medium	after victories over Gotcha Ziziaschwili, Kosta Kostanjevic, Croatia and Nazmi Avluca, Turkey, a defeat against Levon Geghamjan, Armenia and a victory over Valeri Zilenz
2003	6th	World Cup in Créteil	medium	after victories over Wladislaw Metodiew, Bulgaria, Fred de Vos, Netherlands and Melonin Noumonvi, France and a defeat against Attila Bátky
2003	1.	World Cup in Alma-Ata	medium	before Abdullah Jabrailow, Kazakhstan, Alexander Menschtschikow, Serjkan Özden and Nazmi Avluca
2004	18th	OS in Athens	medium	after a loss to Mohamed Abd El Fatah and a win over Bradley Vering, USA
2005	19th	World Cup in Budapest	Semi-difficult	after losing to Reza Zeidvand, Iran

Explanations

• all competitions in Greco-Roman style
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship, EM = European Championship
• Middle weight, weight class up to 1996 up to 82 kg, from 1997 to 2001 up to 85 kg, since 2002 up to 84 kg, light heavy weight, since 2002 up to 96 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Foeldeak Wrestling Database website

Web links

• Muchran Vakhtangadze in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Film report on Muchran Vakhtangadze