Georgian swimming

Georgian swimming comprises several styles unique to Georgia: “Lazuri” (Free Colchian), “Hands and feet bound Kolkhuri” (Military Colchian), “Apkhazuri” (Abkhazian), “Okribula”, “Iberiuli” (Iberian), “Takhvia” and partly “Khashuruli” and “Kizikuri”.

More traditional movements of the extremities are restricted or barred and forward motion is accomplished by dolphin-like undulation of hips and paired feet.

These styles emulate the motions of mammals such as the seal, dolphin, sea lion, whale, otter, and beaver, which have evolved adaptations to water that enable them to attain an optimal swimming ability.

In the beginning of the 1960s, Levan Kursua (1887-1969), a resident of the seaside village of Ergeta (Anaklia) in Mingrelia (Colchis), retold a Georgian legend about Colchian (Lazica) and Iberian warriors who, as part of their training, used a style of swimming where their hands and feet were bound firmly.

His narrative proposed that while, initially daunting, this style of swimming could also be used as a regimen to develop discipline and physical stamina in martial culture: The revival of these unique Georgian style of swimming started at the “Lagune Vere” sports complex in Tbilisi.