Shota KHABARELI

At the 1980 Olympics Georgian Shota Khabareli won his only international title. Besides his Olympic gold, Khabareli won bronze at the 1983 World Championships and two silvers (1979 and 1982) and two bronzes (1981 and 1983) at the European Championships. Domestically, Khabareli won three Soviet titles (1982, 1983 and 1985). After finishing his sporting career Khabareli worked as a judo coach in his native Georgia. From 1997-2009, and since 2010, he was head coach of the Georgian national judo team and was named three times (2003, 2006 and 2007) as the best European judo coach of the year by the European Judo Union. Khabareli was also the vice-president of Georgian judo Federation.