Georgian Weightlifter Talakhadze Named an Athlete of the Year
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, December 25
Georgian weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze, 25, who has already won Olympic Games, the World and European champions, has been named as the athlete of the year by Georgia’s National Olympic Committee last week.
Talakhadze received the same title last year.
In the 105 kg + category, Talakhadze received three gold medals and beaten the world record during the world championship held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan this year.
This was the third time Talakhadze earned the title of World Champion.
Warming up on 207 kg in the snatch he managed to set two world records at 212 and 217kg. In the clean and jerk, after a 245kg introduction, he lifted 212 and 217kg, both world records. In total, he rewrote the record three times (462, 469, 474).
Talakhadze represented Georgia at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships finishing second with a total of 454 kg. However, after Russian weightlifter Aleksey Lovchev failed a doping test, Talakhadze was promoted to the first position.
At the 2016 Olympics, Talakhadze completed a snatch of 215 kg (breaking the world record of 214 kg set by Iranian weightlifter Behdad Salimi (who then took the record back with 216 kg) and then completed a clean and jerk of 258 kg to set a new world record of 473 kg and win a gold medal.
Talakhadze set a new world record in the snatch at the 2017 European Weightlifting Championships with 217 kg, exceeding Salimi's previous record set at the 2016 Olympics.
