Besik Aslanasvili (; born October 22, 1976, in

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

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Georgia, the Georgian SSR, or simply Georgia, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union from its second occupation (by the Red Army) in 1921 to its independence in 1991. Cotermin ...

) is a retired amateur Greek freestyle wrestler, who competed in the men's lightweight category. Holding a dual citizenship to compete internationally, Aslanasvili has been selected to the nation's Olympic wrestling team when

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

hosted the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, and also picked up a gold medal in the 63-kg division at the

2001 Mediterranean Games The XIV Mediterranean Games (), commonly known as the 2001 Mediterranean Games, were the 14th Mediterranean Games held in Tunis, Tunisia, from 2–15 September 2001, where 2,991 athletes (1,972 men and 1,019 women) from 23 countries participated. ...

Tunis, Tunisia Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

. Throughout his sporting career, Aslanasvili trained full-time for Atlas Kallitheas Wrestling Club in

, under personal coach Michail Charachura. Aslanasvili qualified for the naturalized Greek squad in the men's lightweight class (60 kg), when

welcomed the world to the

. He filled up an entry by the International Federation of Association Wrestling and the

Hellenic Olympic Committee The Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC, ) is the governing Olympic body of Greece. It is the second-oldest National Olympic Committee in the world (after the French Olympic Committee), it organizes the country's representatives at the Olympic Gam ...

, as Greece received an automatic berth for being the host nation. Amassed the home crowd inside

Ano Liossia Olympic Hall SUNEL Arena (stylised as SUNEL arena), also known as the Ano Liosia Olympic Hall (), is a multi-purpose Arena, indoor arena located in Ano Liosia, in the western section of Athens, Athens, Greece. Originally built to host martial arts events duri ...

, Aslanasvili opened the prelim pool with a shut out 5–2 victory over neighboring Albania's

Sahit Prizreni Sahit Prizreni (born 23 February 1983) is an Albanian-Australian former freestyle wrestler who is the current president of the Albanian Wrestling Federation from 6 December 2020. Career Albania He participated in Wrestling at the 2008 Summer O ...

, before losing to Iran's

Masoud Mostafa-Jokar Masoud Mostafa Jokar (; born September 21, 1977, in Jowkar) is an Iranian wrestler who competed in the Men's Freestyle 60 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the silver medal. Masoud was born in an athletic family and after his good dem ...

by a rigid 3–2 decision. Placing second in the pool and eleventh in the final standings, Aslanasvili's performance was not enough to put him further into the medal rounds.

References

External links

Profile – International Wrestling Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aslanasvili, Besik 1976 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Greece Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Emigrants from Georgia (country) to Greece Sport wrestlers from Tbilisi Greek male sport wrestlers Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Greece Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling