Georgia Coach Gets Padma Shri for India Wrestling Legacy

When Vladimir Mestvirishvili arrived in India in 2003, the country had never won an Olympic medal in wrestling. By the time he passed away last year at 81, four of his students had stood on Olympic podiums.

On Sunday, the Georgian coach received India's Padma Shri award, one of the country's highest civilian honors. It was posthumous recognition for a man who devoted nearly two decades to Indian wrestling.

Bajrang Punia, who won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, said Mestvirishvili's name deserves to be spoken alongside every Indian wrestling medalist. "He has a major role in the medals won by India at the Olympics," Bajrang told reporters.

The coach transformed more than just technique. Yogeshwar Dutt, a 2012 London Olympics bronze medalist who trained under Mestvirishvili for 15 years, credits him with sorting out the technical gaps that had held Indian wrestlers back.

But what the wrestlers remember most isn't the training sessions. It's how Mestvirishvili would repair the wrestling mats himself so his athletes could practice safely. It's how he'd give them his dry jersey after training so they wouldn't catch a chill.

Wrestlers at the training center knew him as "Laado." When he spotted them wearing just slippers in winter, he'd scold them and insist they wear socks. He shared meals with his students and treated medal winners and beginners exactly the same.

"It didn't matter if they won a medal or not, just like how a father treated his kids," Bajrang recalled. "There are very few coaches who take care of wrestlers once training is over."

Why This Inspires

In sports, we often celebrate the athletes on podiums but forget the mentors who shaped them. Mestvirishvili left his home country to build something lasting in India, asking only for dedication in return.

He stayed even after the Wrestling Federation of India didn't renew his contract in 2017. He moved to Chhatrasal Stadium where he coached Ravi Dahiya, who went on to win silver at the Tokyo Olympics.

Yogeshwar acknowledged the award came late. "I believed he should have got the Dronacharya award during his lifetime," he said. Still, he thanked the government for finally recognizing what every Indian wrestler already knew.

Mestvirishvili's legacy lives in every Olympic medal his students earned, but more importantly, in the model he set for what coaching truly means.