Leri Khabelov

Leri Khabelov (Georgian: ლერი ხაბელოვი, Russian: Лери Габрелович Хабелов) (born 5 July 1964) is a Georgian politician and a retired wrestler, formerly a Soviet Olympic champion in Freestyle wrestling.

An ethnic Ossetian,[1] Leri Khabelov was born in Tbilisi, then-Soviet Georgia in 1964.

[2] He has been a vice-president of the Georgian National Olympic Committee from 2000 to 2007 and deputy chairman of the Sports Department of Georgia from 1998 to 2004.

[4] Leri Khabelov became involved in the Georgian politics in 2008, when he ran, unsuccessfully, in the parliamentary election on a ticket of the opposition Republican Party of Georgia .

[5] In 2012, he joined the new opposition party Georgian Dream spearheaded by the tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili.