Obituary

Olympic champion Tediashvili passes away at 75

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (February 19) -- Two-time Olympic champion and United World Wrestling Hall of Fame wrestler Levan TEDIASHVILI passed away on Saturday. He was 75 years old.

Tediashvili won the Freestyle gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics and repeated as the Olympic champion at the 1976 Montreal Games. The two Olympic gold medals were won in 82kg and 90kg weight classes respectively.

Born on March 15, 1948, Tediashvili was a four-time world champion, winning the gold medal in 1971, 1973, 1974 and 1975. His world title and two Olympic medals resulted in him remaining unbeaten internationally from 1971 to 1977.

Levan TEDIASHVILI
Levan TEDIASHVILI

In 1978, he jumped to the 100kg weight class and won a silver medal at the World Championships that year. He also won European titles three times.

Georgia awarded him with Vakhtang Gorgasali First Degree Medal and the title of Honorary Citizen of Tbilisi. The wrestling legend was inducted into the UWW Hall of Fame in 2005. He also acted in awarded winning films including Brighton 4th.

UWW mourns the passing of Tediashvili and expresses its deepest sympathies to the Tediashvili family.

Batumi to host 2027 U23 Euros; 2026 Pan-Am calendar updated

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (January 29) -- United World Wrestling has announced updates for its events calendar for both 2026 and 2027.

For 2027, Batumi, Georgia will host the U23 European Championships from March 8 to 14. With this, Georgia, a top wrestling country, marks a return to the UWW's events calendar after six years having hosted the 2019 Veteran World Championships.

The 2026 U15 Pan-American Championships were awarded to Mexico City, Mexico and the tournament will be from July 23 to 25. The U15 Pan-American Beach Wrestling Championships will also be conducted in Mexico City. The same will be held on July 26.

UWW also decided to shift the 2026 U23 Pan-American Championships to Lima, Peru from Caracas, Venezuela. The competition will be held June 11-13 in the Peruvian capital with competition being held over three days, with medal bouts of respective styles to be completed on the same day.

The Senior Beach Wrestling Pan-American Championships will also be held in Lima, Peru on June 14.

Updated 2026 Pan-American Championships calendar:

- U17 Pam-American Championships, April 2-4 (Panama City, Panama)
- Senior Pan-American Championships, May 7-10 (Coralville, United States)
- U23 Pan-American Championships, June 11-13 (Lima, Peru)
- U20 Pan-American Championships, July 9-11 (Niteroi, Brazil)
- U15 Pan-American Championships, July 23-25 (Mexico City, Mexico)

Updated 2026 Pan-Am Beach Wrestling Championships Calendar:

- U17 Beach Wrestling Pan-American Championships, April 5, (Panama City, Panama)
- Senior Beach Wrestling Pan-American Championships, June 14 (Lima, Peru)
- U20 Beach Wrestling Pan-American Championships, July 12 (Niteroi, Brazil)
- U15 Beach Wrestling Pan-American Championships, July 26 (Mexico City, Mexico)

UWW remains at the disposal of all National Federations for any query. For all events, refer to uww.org/events.