Georgia’s Lasha Bekauri is one of the superstars of judo. Since his first big breakthrough in 2019, winning the prestigious Judo World Masters, in Qingdao, China, he has won almost every other major event in judo.
Bekauri won his first Grand Slam in 2021, and has won three other Grand Slams, including the most recent one in Abu Dhabi. He became European Champion in 2021 and won a second World Masters in 2023. But Bekauri’s biggest achievements are obviously the two Olympic gold medals he won in 2021 and 2024.
Strangely, he has yet to win a World title. His best performance at the World’s to date, was a silver medal in 2023, where he lost to his teammate Luka Maisuradze. He also has a World bronze medal from 2022. So, what’s clearly missing in his medal collection is a World gold.
After the Olympics in July 2024, Bekauri took some time off until May 2025. His first comeback event was a relatively small one at the Benidorm (Spain) World Cup, a Continental Open championship, which is usually not as hard as a Grand Slam or Grand Prix. It was a practical choice and he won that one, as expected.
After that successful warm up, Bekauri lost his second match at the 2025 World Championships in Budapest. Just as people were beginning to wonder whether he was past his prime, he came blazing back in the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, winning it with variety of unorthodox techniques.
Bekauri is what you’d call a typical Georgian fighter. He likes to reach across his opponent’s right shoulder and grab the belt. This is what is commonly referred to as a Georgian Grip, and he loves to do this. From that grip, Bekauri can do the famous Khabarelli technique but he’s far from limited to just that. He’s got a wide range of unusual throws including variations of the takedown that Maisuradze famously used against him in the final of the 2023 World’s. Like many Georgians, Bekauri doesn’t really like to do newaza but with such throwing power, perhaps his is a rare case where strong groundwork isn’t necessary to win.
At 25, Bekauri easily has one more Olympics in him, and quite possibly two. Can he match Tadahiro Nomura and Teddy Riner’s three Olympic gold medals or perhaps surpass them? Surely, he is in the running for at least matching their record. But before that, Bekauri is probably gunning for a World title in 2026.
