Georgia at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Georgia at the Olympic Games
Flag of Georgia – Flag bearers IOC code  GEO NOC Georgian National Olympic Committee Website www.geonoc.org.ge (Georgian) (English)
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
Competitors	35 in 11 sports
Flag bearer	Ramaz Nozadze
Medals Rank: 27	Gold 3	Silver 0	Bronze 3	Total 6
Olympic history (summary)
Summer Games
1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 • 2012
Winter Games
1994 • 1998 • 2002 • 2006 • 2010
Other related appearances
Soviet Union (1952–1988) Unified Team (1992)

Georgia competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. This is a list of the results of all of the athletes who qualified for the Olympics and were nominated by Georgian National Olympic Committee. Georgia was represented in the Beijing Olympic Games by 35 sportsmen and sportswomen in total of 11 different sporting events. The Games had a dramatic start for Georgia, as well as for Russia, due to the onset of the 2008 South Ossetia war at the very start of the Games. Georgian athletes won three gold and three bronze medals during the games.

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
1 Gold	Manuchar Kvirkelia	Wrestling	Men's Greco-Roman 74 kg
1 Gold	Irakli Tsirekidze	Judo	Men's 90 kg
1 Gold	Revazi Mindorashvili	Wrestling	Men's freestyle 84 kg
3 Bronze	Otar Tushishvili	Wrestling	Men's freestyle 66 kg
3 Bronze	Giorgi Gogshelidze	Wrestling	Men's freestyle 96 kg
3 Bronze	Nino Salukvadze	Shooting	Women's 10 metre air pistol

Archery

Main articles: Archery at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Archery at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Georgia will send archers to the Olympics for the fourth time, seeking the nation's first Olympic medal in the sport. Khatuna Narimanidze and Kristine Esebua (both veterans of the 2004 Olympics) earned the nation two spots in the women's competition by placing 5th and 30th in the women's individual competition at the 2007 Outdoor World Target Championships.

Women

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Score	Seed	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Kristina Esebua	Individual	643	17	Yuki Hayashi (JPN) W 102(+9)-102(+8)	Elpida Romantzi (GRE) L 102(+9)-102(+10)	Did not advance
Khatuna Narimanidze	Individual	663	4	Dorji Dema (BHU) W 107-97	Leydis Brito (VEN) W 111-98	Mariana Avitia (MEX) L 108-109	Did not advance

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Men

Athlete	Event	Round 1		Round 2		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
David Ilariani	110 m hurdles	13.75	29 q	13.74	28	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Qualifying		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Mariam Kevkhishvili	Shot put	15.99	30	Did not advance

Boxing

Main articles: Boxing at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Boxing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Georgia qualified two boxers for the Olympic boxing tournament. Both boxers qualifed at the second European continental qualifying tournament.

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Nikoloz Izoria	Featherweight	Batshegi (BOT) W 14-4	Imranov (AZE) L 9-18	Did not advance
Kakhaber Zhvania	Welterweight	Andrade (USA) L 9-11	Did not advance

Gymnastics

Main articles: Gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Gymnastics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Artistic

Men

Athlete	Event	Apparatus												Qualification		Final
		Floor	Rank	Pommel horse	Rank	Rings	Rank	Vault	Rank	Parallel bars	Rank	Horizontal bar	Rank	Total	Rank	Total	Rank
Ilia Giorgadze	All-around	14.625	46							15.150	41			29.775	90	Did not advance

Trampoline

Women

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Score	Rank	Score	Rank
Luba Golovina	Individual	64.90	5 Q	36.10	6

Judo

Main articles: Judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Judo at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Men

Athlete	Event	Preliminary	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	First repechage round	Repechage quarterfinals	Repechage semifinals	Bronze medal contest	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Nestor Khergiani	−60 kg		Dragin (FRA) L 0010 / 0101	Did not advance			Yekutiel (ISR) L 0000 / 0001	Did not advance
Zaza Kedelashvili	−66 kg		Ungvari (HUN) L 0000 / 1000	Did not advance
David Kevkhishvili	−73 kg		Toma (MDA) W 0021 / 0010	Kim (PRK) L 0110 / 0111	Did not advance
Saba Gavashelishvili	−81 kg	Neto (POR) L 0000 / 1010	Did not advance
Irakli Tsirekidze	−90 kg			Mesbah (EGY) W 0010 / 0001	Mammadov (AZE) W 1000 / 0000	Pershin (RUS) W 1002 / 0000					Benikhlef (ALG) W 0001 / 0000
Levan Zhorzholiani	−100 kg		Cousins (GBR) W 0010-0000	Miraliyev (AZE) L 0000-1010	Did not advance		Azzoun (ALG) W 1001-0001	Brata (ROU) W 1001-0000	Jang (KOR) W 0021-0020	Grol (NED) L 0000-0020	Did not advance
Lasha Gujejiani	+100 kg		Blas Jr. (GUM) W 0200-0001	McCormick (USA) W 1000-0000	Rodaki (IRI) W 0011-0000	Ishii (JPN) L 0000-1011				Riner (FRA) L 0000-1011	Did not advance

Shooting

Main articles: Shooting at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Shooting at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Women

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final		Rank
		Score	Rank	Score	Total
Nino Salukvadze	10 m air pistol	386	4	101.4	487.4
	25 m pistol	292	4	288	580	16

On 10 August 2008, Nino Salukvadze made international headlines as she kissed and hugged with Russian silver medalist Natalia Paderina after the 10m air pistol medal ceremony while Georgia and Russia were fighting over South Ossetia.

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Athlete	Events	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Irakli Revishvili	Men's 200 m freestyle	1:53.60	53	Did not advance
Anna Salnikova	Women's 100 m breaststroke	1:21.70	48	Did not advance

Volleyball

Main articles: Volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Beach

Men

Athlete	Event	Preliminary round Pool C	Standing	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Bronze medal match	Final
		Opposition Score		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score
Renato "Geor" Gomes Jorge "Gia" Terceiro Seed 21	Doubles	Schacht - Slack (AUS) L 0-2 (17-21, 19-21)  Ricardo - Emanuel (BRA) L 0-2 (19-21, 17-21)  Fernandes - Morais (ANG) W 2-0 (21-14, 21-13)	3 Q	Doppler - Gartmayer (AUT) W 2-1 (19-21, 21-16, 15-13)	Nummerdor - Schuil (NED) W 2-0 (21-19, 21-19)	Rogers - Dalhausser (USA) L 0-2 (11-21, 13-21)	Ricardo - Emanuel (BRA) L 0-2 (15-21, 10-21)	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Preliminary round Pool C	Standing	Lucky Loser round	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Score		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score
Cristine "Saka" Santanna Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins Seed 23	Doubles	Larissa - Ana Paula (BRA) L 1-2 (25:23, 17-21, 5:15)  Barnett - Cook (AUS) L 0-2 (18:21, 12-21)  Uryadova - Shiryaeva (RUS) W 2-1 (10-21, 22-20, 15-12)	3 Q	van Breedam - Mouha (BEL) L 0-2 (13-21, 19-21)	Did not advance

Both Georgian teams were composed of Brazilians who became Georgian citizens to compete in Olympic beach volleyball. The players' nicknames echoed the name of the country, the men in English ("Geor and "Gia"), and the women in Georgian ("Saka" and "Rtvelo"). Beach volleyball proved to be the most notable moment for the Georgian team when their women defeated Russian opponents. The added notability to this game stemmed from the military conflict with Russia over South Ossetia.

The men were ranked 17th, and were playing in Pool C against pairs from Brazil, Australia and Angola. The women are ranked 23rd in the Olympic qualifying rankings, and were the last team to earn entry from the rankings list. They were playing in Pool C against pairs from Brazil, Australia and Russia.

Weightlifting

Main articles: Weightlifting at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Weightlifting at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Men

Athlete	Event	Snatch		Clean & jerk		Total	Rank
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Rauli Tsirekidze	-85 kg	143	17	Did not finish
Arsen Kasabiev	-94 kg	176	7	223	3	399	4
Albert Kuzilov	-105 kg	182	7	227	4	409	6

Wrestling

Main articles: Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics and Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Men's freestyle

Athlete	Event	Qualification	1/8 final	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage round 1	Bronze medal contest	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Besarion Gochashvili	−55 kg		Toarca (ROU) W 3-0, 3-0	Cejudo (USA) L 3-1, 2-3, 0-3	Did not advance	Velikov (BUL) L 0-1, 1-2	Did not advance
Otar Tushishvili	−66 kg		Ikematsu (JPN) W 4-1, 0-3, 1-0	Barzakov (BUL) W 3-0, 2-0	Sahin (TUR) L 0-1, 1-3		Garzon (CUB) W 3-0, 1-1	Did not advance
Gela Saghirashvili	−74 kg	Midana (GBS) W 1-0, 2-1	Gaidarov (BLR) L 0-1, 0-1	Did not advance
Revazi Mindorashvili	−84 kg		Bichinashvili (GER) W 1-4, 2-0, 3-1	Yenokyan (ARM) W 2-0, 2-0	Ketoev (RUS) W 4-2, 7-3			Abdusalomov (TJK) W 2-3, 3-0, 4-0
Giorgi Gogshelidze	−96 kg		Krupnyakov (KGZ) W 1-0, 1-0	Abrahimi (IRI) W 3-0, 1-0	Tigiyev (KAZ) L 1-1, 1-0, 0-2		Batista (CUB) W 1-0, 4-0	Did not advance

Greco-Roman

Athlete	Event	1/8 final	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage round 1	Bronze medal contest	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Lasha Gogitadze	−55 kg	Jiao (CHN) W 2-0, 2-0	Amoyan (ARM) L 1-4, 2-3	Did not advance
David Bedinadze	−60 kg	Nazarian (BUL) L 1-1, 1-4, 0-5	Did not advance
Manuchar Kvirkelia	−74 kg	Guenot (FRA) W 5-0, 5-0	Schneider (GER) W 3-0, 5-0	Bacsi (HUN) W 2-1, 2-5, 3-0			Chang (CHN) W 7-0, 3-0
Badri Khasaia	−84 kg	Avluca (TUR) L 0-4, 1-1	Did not advance
Ramaz Nozadze	−96 kg	Tounousidis (GRE) W 1-1, 2-2	Svec (CZE) L 1-1, 1-1, 1-2	Did not advance