Vakhtang Iagorashvili

Who is Vakhtang Iagorashvili?

Vakhtang "Vaho" Iagorashvili is a Soviet modern pentathlete, who has been a member of three different Olympic teams during his sporting career.

Iagorashvili emerged as the top favorite to win the men's individual and team modern pentathlon in the late 1980's. As a competitor for the Soviet Union, he had won the bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and gold at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle, became a three-time national champion for the team, and claimed multiple titles at the world championships. He also won three European titles. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Iagorashvili retired from his sport, and emigrated to the United States to work as a physical education instructor at the Austin Community College in Austin, Texas.

Iagorashvili eventually came out of retirement in 1995, and qualify for the men's modern pentathlon at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, representing his birth nation Georgia. Vaho gained his U.S. citizenship in 2002 making him eligible to compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Between 1999 and 2004, Iagorashvili was appointed to be the coach of the U.S. Olympic Pentathlon Team.