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Jumber Lezhava passes away

By Nutsa Eristavi
Monday, July 28
Georgian citizens are very saddened that world traveler Jumber Lezhava has passed away.

At the end of each day every man asks himself, “Did I make the world at least a little better?” Jumber Lezhava was quoted as saying.

I never knew him personally, but have heard a lot about his interesting journeys and discoveries… In 1993 I was only 3 years-old when Jumber Lezhava traveled more than 300, 000 km in 3,333-days on his bicycle around the world. While on his journey, he broke a lot of records. He was a role model for the Georgian people – throughout his life, he promoted a healthy lifestyle. From childhood, he was taking part in many competitions, bodybuilding and wrestling as well.

Jumber Lezhava showed the world that freedom has no borders and if you really want something with all your heart, you will achieve it. Communication with people and making friends in different countries was one of his favorite things while traveling, because of his many interesting friends, he used to call himself the richest person in the world.

Jumber Lezhava was born in Tbilisi. In 1966 he graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Engineer-Electrician qualification. In 1990-1992 he established a Guinness world record in push-ups. He did 5, 011 push-ups in an hour.

Between August 13, 1993 and November 3, 2003, he traveled with his bike around the world. Within 3, 333 days, he crossed Asia, the Australia-Pacific Rim, North and South America and 234 countries in Africa. He visited Antarctica 2 times. He took more than 50,000 photographs and made more than 200 hours of video, he also created a 7,000-page diary.

Jumber Lezhava died on July 25, 2014, he made his family and friends proud, whom he helped and inspired. The whole world is proud of him.