Davit Tsimak'uridze

In 1952 Davit Tsimak’uridze became the first Georgian Olympic champion, although he competed for the Soviet Union of which Georgia then was a part. His appearance at the 1952 Olympics was his only one at a major international championship. Despite losing the first match to Bengt Lindblad of Sweden, he went on to win his remaining matches and the Olympic gold. In national competition, Tsimak’uridze had been very successful already, winning the Soviet freestyle middleweight title seven times (1945-1947, 1949-1952) and the Greco-Roman middleweight title twice (1947 and 1948). He later worked as a wrestling coach.