Israeli wrestler Gocha Tzitziashvili is world champion in his class (up to 84 kilogram) in Greco-Roman Wrestling. He won the gold medal on Saturday night in Creteil, France, at the 2003 World Championships in Greco-Roman Wrestling after a nine-minute bout against Sweden’s Aza Abrahamian. The next stop for Gocha is the Olympics in Athens.

Upon his return to Israel, the 30-year-old wrestler was given a very warm welcome by Israel’s Olympic committee, his family and members of Israel’s Georgian immigrant community. The World Congress of Georgian Jews awarded Gocha 100,000 shekels in honor of his win. In reaction to the hugs, kisses and cheers, Tzitziashvili quipped, “If I knew it was going to be like this, I would have won the medal years ago.”



He has won several other medals, however. At the European Championships in 1994, the same year he immigrated from Tbilisi, Tzitziashvili won a silver medal. Then, at the 1995 World Championships, he again took home a silver medal for Israel, which was the first-ever Israeli medal at that international wrestling competition. In 1996, at the European Championships, Tzitziashvili won the bronze. He has also competed in two Olympiads for Israel, the 1996 Atlanta Games and Sydney in 2000.