Rost'om (Rostom) Omeris Abashidze ( ka, როსტომ ომერის ძე აბაშიძე, russian: Ростом Омарович Абашидзе, born 23 February 1935) is a retired light-heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Competing for the Soviet Union he won the world title in 1958, 1962 and 1963 and placed fifth at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

. Abashidze first trained in swimming and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

before changing to wrestling. After graduating from secondary school in

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...

he moved to

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

, where he studied at the

Georgian Technical University Georgian Technical University (GTU, formerly V.I. Lenin Georgian Polytechnical Institute) is the main and largest technical university of Georgia. It is located in the capital city of Tbilisi. History Georgian Technical University was founded i ...

and later defended a PhD in construction engineering. Shortly before the 1964 Olympics he fell ill with

hepatitis A Hepatitis A is an infectious disease of the liver caused by ''Hepatovirus A'' (HAV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Many cases have few or no symptoms, especially in the young. The time between infection and symptoms, in those who develop them ...

and have not fully recovered. He retired from competitions after the games to become a wrestling coach in Georgia. Later he also held executive positions in the construction industry.

References

External links

* 1935 births Living people Sportspeople from Batumi Olympic wrestlers for the Soviet Union Wrestlers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Male sport wrestlers from Georgia (country) Soviet male sport wrestlers World Wrestling Championships medalists People of Adjarian descent {{Georgia-wrestling-bio-stub