UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Vakhtang "Vaho" Iagorashvili has been named assistant coach with the Penn State men’s and women’s fencing teams. Iagorashvili is set to begin his first season at Penn State. Iagorashvili joins the team with an extensive international background in fencing and the modern pentathlon.
Iagorashvili has been a member of three different Olympic teams for three nations: USSR, Georgia, and the United States. He was a Bronze Medalist in the 1988 Seoul Olympic games, three-time World and European Champion, Pan Am Games Champion (’03), Goodwill Games Champion (’90), three-time U.S. National Champion (’03, ’99, ’97), three-time Soviet Union National Champion (’90,’88, ’86) and has won multiple World Cups.
The new Nittany Lion coach comes to Penn State with an accomplished coaching history. Iagorashvili is the owner and coach of the Penta Fencing Club in Wilmington, Mass., and was previously the Head Epee Fencing Coach of Round Rock Fencing Club in Austin, Texas. As a fencing coach, his students have won several medals in both individual men’s and women’s Epee at the national level.
Iagorashvili is also an accomplished Pentathlon athlete and coach. The Modern Pentathon consists of fencing, running, swimming, shooting, and riding. He was the coach of the U.S. Olympic Pentathlon Team in both the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, as well as the Director of Recruitment for the team from 2001-2003.
Iagorashvili received a master’s degree in physical education from the Georgia Institute of Physical Cultures and Sport in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia in 1985. He was a physical education instructor at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas from 1992-1998.
Iagorashvili has one son, Daniel, who is a freshman on the Penn State Fencing team this year.