Levan Tediashvili

Levan Tediashvili (; born 15 March 1948 in Gegmoubani, Georgian SSR) is a former Soviet (Georgian) wrestler and Olympic champion in Freestyle wrestling in 1972 and 1976. He remained undefeated between 1971 and 1976. Besides freestyle wrestling, he was also a Soviet and world champion in sambo.
Olympics.
Tediashvili won gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in the "middleweight" class. At the 1976 Summer Olympics he received gold medal in the "light heavyweight" class. While winning these titles, he defeated two brothers, John Peterson in 1972 and Ben Peterson in 1976. John won a gold medal in 1976 and Ben won a gold medal in 1972, in the weight categories where Tediashvili did not compete.
World and European championships.
Tediashvili won a gold medal in the "82 kg class" at the 1971 FILA Wrestling World Championships, and gold medals in the "90 kg class" in 1973, 1974 and 1975. At the 1978 FILA Wrestling World Championships he received a silver medal in the "100 kg class". He also won European titles in 1974, 1976 and 1978.
Biography and awards.
Tediashvili was born to a Georgian father, invalid of World War II, and a Russian mother, who moved to Georgia with her other son Herman after her husband was killed in World War II. Herman also became wrestler and then worked as wrestling coach in Chișinău.
Tediashvili was selected among the Soviet Union top ten athletes of the year in 1973 by the Federation of Sports Journalists of the USSR. In 1976, he was awarded the Order of Lenin.
In 1987, he and Georgian Olympic cyclist Omar Pkhakadze played two heroes in the historical Georgian film "Khareba da Gogia". The film director Georgiy Shengelaya chose them instead of professional actors for their athletism, charisma and energy required for these roles; their assistants in the film were also played by sportsmen, world champions in wrestling.
Tediashvili fought in the Abkhazian War, along with his son, who was killed in the conflict. From 1995 to 2003, he was a parliamentary deputy from a district of Kakheti.