Wachid Borchashvili

Wachid Borchashvili (born 24 September 1998) is an Austrian judoka and four-time Austrian judo national champion. He holds the rank of Shodan.

Biography
Borchashvili won his first European Open in Oberwart in February 2020. After the COVID-19 pandemic, he finished 5th at the European Open in Zagreb in May 2021.

Qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games
After competing in these competitions in the weight class up to 81 kg, he tried to gain a foothold in the higher weight class -90 kg the next year. Although he was able to achieve both 3rd and 7th place in Grand Prix events, he decided to compete in the qualification tournaments for the 2024 Olympic Games in the weight class -81 kg in 2023. His brother Shamil also tried to get the one Austrian starting place for the Olympics in the same weight class.

Disciplinary proceedings
In August 2023, it became known that Borchashvili had physically attacked a training partner during a training course. After disciplinary proceedings, the Austrian Judo Federation announced that Wachid Borchashvili was banned from the 2023 Judo World Masters in Budapest. After winning the bronze medal at the 2024 Judo Grand Prix Linz, Laurin Böhler announced in an ORF interview that he had been attacked by his teammate Borchashvili. He complained that the consequences were too mild and that the training climate had deteriorated since then.

Starting place for the 2024 Olympic Games
In the qualification period for the 2024 Olympic Games, Borchashvili won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal at Grand Slam tournaments and had collected 3240 points in the IJF Olympic Ranking. However, his brother Shamil had achieved 3746 points. Since only one athlete was allowed to compete per country and weight class, this would have meant that Shamil and not Wachid would have represented Austria at the Olympic Games. However, he waived his place at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, so Wachid took his place. He will take part in the Games in the -81 kg weight class as well as in the mixed team (together with Katharina Tanzer, Lubjana Piovesana, Michaela Polleres, Samuel Gaßner and Aaron Fara).

Personal life
His brothers Shamil Borchashvili and Kimran Borchashvili [de] are also part of the national team. Shamil won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in judo.