Iliadis, Ilias

Ilias Iliadis ( Greek Ηλίας Ηλιάδης , birth name - Djardji Zviadauri ( Georgian ჯარჯი ზვიადაური ); born November 10, 1986 in Akhmet , Georgian SSR ) - Greek judoist of Georgian origin, 2004 Olympic champion in Athens in the weight category up to 81 kg, three-time world champion, two-time European champion, prize-winner of the 1st European Games 2015 in Baku . Since 2005 it has been performing in the weight category up to 90 kg.

The athlete’s childhood passed on the outskirts of Tbilisi , where he trained with coach Guram Modebadze . From the age of 15, Ilias began successfully performing at youthful international tournaments, where his future coach and adoptive father Nikos Iliadis met him, who accepted him into his family and gave his last name.

Nikos Iliadis was born in 1957 in Georgia in the village of Kvemo Kedi - Kakheti . A large number of ethnic Greeks lived in Georgia . In 1991, the Greeks of the former USSR were allowed to travel to their historical homeland. During this period, the Greeks began a massive relocation to their homeland, and Nikos Iliadis was in the ranks of the settlers. This is how a Georgian with a Greek surname ended up in Greece , where he continues to play for the national team to this day ^[1] .

At 17, Elias won the 2004 Athens Olympics . After this victory, he became a national Greek hero. It is no coincidence that after four years at the Beijing Olympics, he became the standard bearer of the Greek national team at the opening ceremony of the Games.

In 2005, he won the silver medal of the World Cup in Cairo . In 2007, he won various international tournaments and again became the second at the World Championships in Rio de Janeiro . In 2010, in the homeland of judo, in Japan , he became the first Greek judoka to receive a gold medal at the men's world championship. A year later, in Paris, he repeated his success, winning the second gold medal of the championship . Thus, he won a ticket to his third Olympics in 2012 , where he won a bronze medal in a duel with Brazilian Tiago Camilo .

In May 2013 in Tyumen became the winner of a major international tournament World Masters.

In August 2013, he became the bronze medalist of the World Championships in Rio da Janeiro, losing the fight for reaching the finals of the silver medalist at the 2012 Olympic Games, Asley Gonzalez, who became the winner of the competition.

Iliadis is a cousin of another Olympic champion, Georgian judoka Zurab Zviadauri .