Staff Writer Grace Holloway explores Olympic Hero Lasha Talakhadze’s transition from competitive weightlifting into Georgian politics.
This December’s IWF World Championships, will have a notable absence from the most watched lifter: Lasha Talakhadze, as he enters a new battle ground.
Lasha Talakhadze recently paused his training to stand in the Georgian Parliamentary election, held on the 26th of October. While the results have not yet been ratified, he has been successful in becoming a member of Parliament after being ranked 7th in the party list system.
Other athletes have also taken this step from sport to politics, with a fellow Gold-medal winning Wrestler Geno Petraishavili also standing in the election.
For those unaware of the sport, Lasha is the most successful weightlifter of the 21st century and one of the sport’s most-watched athletes. Talakhadze competes in the heaviest category and holds a nine-year unbeaten run. He has set 20 world records during this period and most recently secured a third consecutive Gold medal in Paris.
However Talakhadze’s injury record has become an issue, after not competing for 328 days before the Olympics. His performance at the Olympics was also down from his usual numbers, only snatching 215kg and 255kg in the clean and jerk which are both 10kg shy of his world records.
After conquering the history books of weightlifting, he has now moved to politics, chasing the Georgian dream (the current ruling political party in Georgia) rather than the 500kg dream. The 500kg mark is a weight not lifted on record and something he has been attempting to achieve for years, with his current record total at 492kg. This would truly crown him as the best lifter in history.
Instead, the Georgian Dream has come first, as Talakhadze stood for the party. The elections have dominated world headlines, as the Georgian Dream is considered pro-Russian. Many have seen this high-stakes election as a ‘referendum’ on the country’s future, whether the country will choose to be a European democracy or an authoritarian country closely aligned with Russia. Despite some debate over whether the results were manipulated, the country chose to stay with the Georgian Dream party.
The future for Talakhadze is unclear. He claims he can manage both sport and politics. His training staff hope that if he returns within the next six months he could be back on track to achieving the 500kg dream, and retaining his position as European champion in the 2026 championships held in his home country.
“At the moment, my country needs me. We’ll see what will be in the future”
The temporary pause could allow for new lifters to claim the spotlight. Gor Minasyan and Varazdat Lalalyan both came within 10kg of Talakhadze’s Olympic total, and may use his break from the sport as an opportunity to threaten his reign.
Whether he chooses to completely abandon sport for politics is unknown. Clearly he feels his country needs him more than his sport does, especially since he has given the sport his all for so long.
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