Georgia (GEO)

Many Georgian athletes competed from 1952 to 1988 for the Soviet Union. Its top sports were judo and wrestling and, in fact, Georgian judoka won more medals for the Soviet Union than any other republic, including Russia. The most famous Georgian Olympic athletes under Soviet rule were wrestlers Davit Gobejishvili (one gold and one bronze) and Levan Tediashvili (two gold), and track & field athletes Viktor Saneyev (three gold and one silver in triple jump) and Robert’ Shavlaq’adze (gold in high jump). Georgian athletes were present at Barcelona in 1992 as members of the Unified Team.

The National Olympic Committee of Georgia was formed in 1989 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the IOC session in Monte Carlo in September 1993. Georgia’s first Olympic appearance as an independent nation occurred in 1994 at Lillehammer, where it was represented by five athletes who competed in luge, alpine skiing, and ski jumping. Georgia has since competed at all Olympic Games and Olympic Winter Games. Georgia has won 32 Olympic medals, eight gold, all at the Summer Olympics. Three athletes have won two medals for Georgia since their independence: Giorgi Asanidze in 2000-04 weightlifting, Eldar K’urt’anidze in 1996-2000 wrestling, and Giorgi Gogshelidze in 2008-12 wrestling.