Monday, the 1st of April, GNOC – the Georgian National Olympic Committee celebrated the birthday of two famous Georgian sportsmen – Robert Shavlakadze, 80 and Leri Gogoladze, 75. Their names have been in headlines longer than half a century.
The regular newspaper article cannot provide enough room for all the honors, medals and awards they have received for lifetime. Shavlakadze is the 1960 Rome Olympic gold medalist in high jump, and Gogoladze is the Silver medal winner of the same Olympiad for water polo. Both of them - friends and co-Olympians – have taken the Georgian national sports to the level which has made the entire nation very, very proud of them. The hall at GNOC was packed full with guests, probably with all Georgian Olympic champions among them. GNOC awarded them with citations, elegantly framed and solemnly delivered by Leri Khabelov, the president of the Committee. The congratulations were warm and ample. The humbled champs were certainly overwhelmed with joy. There was something saddening in the event too: Robert Shavlakadze, the man who used to fly over the bar, raised up to 217 centimeters, used a cane for support. But would that matter in the happiest moments like that? Both men are professors, Shavlakadze heading the chair of physical culture at the Georgian Agrarian University and Gogoladze being the doctor of Physics and mathematics. They have taught the generations in this country, sharing their outstanding talents and experience with young men and women. Robert Shavlakadze is serving as the GNOC Executive Committee board member, actively participating in the ongoing sporting events in Georgia. Leri Gogoladze, the untiring, I would say, young man of seventy-five continues his active professorial life with amazing results. His popularity is truly versatile. The whole event was moving to tears. Nothing might be more joyful to witness than a famous octogenarian that day together with his septuagenarian friend and co-defender of Georgia’s sporting prestige and fame are still in the fighting shape, notwithstanding the burden of years and the weight of experience on their still able shoulders.