Shalva Chikhladze

Shalva Chikhladze was a Georgian wrestler who competed for the Soviet Union and won the silver medal in the Greco-Roman light-heavyweight division at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He was born on 12 July 1912, became interested in wrestling in 1920 and began training in a club in 1930, when he moved from Kutaisi to Tbilisi. In 1935 he moved to Moscow and placed second at the Soviet championships, then won the title in 1936 and collected three more Soviet titles in 1946, 1949 and 1950. He was wounded in action near Kaluga in late 1941 during the Second World War and was discharged with honors in March 1942. Selected for the 1952 Olympics at the age of 40, he lost the final to Kelpo Gröndahl by 1 to 2 and retired from competition. He later coached wrestlers in Georgia and died on 14 January 1997.