Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling to run for mayor of Gori for Georgia’s ruling party

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian Dream has nominated Olympic champion Vladimer (Lado) Khinchegashvili as a candidate for mayor of Gori in the October local elections.

Following the results of the previous elections in this city, the 30-year-old athlete, who has not yet made a public announcement to leave the sport, will most likely win this election.

Lado Khinchegashvili won gold in freestyle wrestling at the 2016 Olympics, and a silver medal in 2012. In addition, he is the 2015 World Champion and three-times European champion.

He was supposed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, but contracted Covid-19 and could not take part.

In a similar move, the ruling GD party also nominated the former captain of the Georgian national football team Giorgi Nemsadze as a mayoral candidate in Tsageri. He played as a midfielder in Dinamo Tbilisi and several European clubs including Swiss Grasshopper, Italian Reggiana and Scottish Dundee, in 1990s and early 2000s.