Gia Kvaratskhelia

Biography

Guiorgie “Gia” Kvaratskhelia (GEE-uh KVA-ra-SKELL-ee-uh) became the seventh head coach in Notre Dame fencing history in 2014, succeeding Janusz Bednarski after having spent the previous three years as associate head coach and five as an assistant. Kvaratskhelia is a foil specialist, and has already cemented his legacy as one of the nation’s top collegiate coaches after leading the Irish to five national championships in 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023 and most recently 2025. He has earned National Coach of the Year honors by the United States Fencing Coaching Association in 2018 and both men’s and women’s National Coach of the Year from the organization in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025. Since joining the Irish staff in 2007, Kvaratskhelia has overseen a thriving foil program. Irish foilists have qualified the maximum of four foilists each year for NCAA championship play. Since 2008, seven foilists have achieved four-time All-America status with Kvaratskhelia at the helm. Irish foilists have captured eight NCAA individual championships since 2010, including a four-time winner in Lee Kiefer (2013-’14-’15) and two-time winners in Gerek Meinhardt (2010, 2014) and Nick Itkin (2018, 2019). Ariel DeSmet also captured a men’s foil championship as a freshman in 2011. In six of his first seven seasons at the helm of the Irish, Kvaratskhelia steered his program to ACC titles on both men’s and women’s sides, while both teams placed second in the conference in 2018. The Irish have claimed 38 of