Pyrros Dimas

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Pyrros Dimas Weightlifting
Piros dimas in dion2.JPG

Pyrros Dimas with the Olympic torch

Personal information
Surname: Pyrros Dimas
Nationality: GreeceGreece Greece
Date of birth: October 13, 1971
Place of birth: Himara , Albania
Medal table
Olympic medals 3 × gold 0 × silver 1 × bronze
World Cup medals 6 × gold 4 × silver 2 × bronze
Medals

Pyrros Dimas ( Albanian  Pirro Dhima ; Greek Πύρρος Δήμας ; born October 13, 1971 in Himara , Albania ) is a former Greek weightlifter .

Life

youth

Dimas was born in 1971 in Himara , in southern Albania . His parents were ethnic Greeks .

Dimas started lifting weights at the age of eleven. At the age of 14 he first appeared in junior competitions. At the age of 18, in 1989, he became three-time Albanian champion for the weight class up to 82.5 kg. In 1990 he repeated this success.

During this time he was trained by Zef Kovaci . In 1990 he was honored as “Master i Sportit” (Master of Sport) by the Albanian government and with the title “European Master” by the European Weightlifting Federation .

Athletic career

Competitions for Albania

Dimas made important contributions to the Albanian weightlifting team: in 1989 he achieved 12th place in the 62nd World Championships and thus achieved 13th place for Albania.

In May 1990 at the 69th European Championships in Aalborg , Denmark , Dimas took 4th place in Europe and Albania came 3rd after the Soviet Union and Bulgaria . In December 1990 in the European Cup in Antalya , Turkey , he won second place for Albania (after Bulgaria) together with Leonidas Sabanis and Fatmir Bushi .

Competitions for Greece

In Aalborg he made contact with Giannis Sgouros and Christos Iakovou, representatives of the Greek national team. Dimas expressed interest in a future collaboration. However, the political situation in the People's Socialist Republic of Albania prevented him from leaving the country. Dimas crossed the Albanian-Greek border on February 7, 1991 and emigrated to Athens. He received his citizenship in 1992. He quickly became a major in the Greek army and competed for the first time under the Greek flag at the 1992 Summer Olympics . He won the gold medal in the 82.5 kg class.

The seven-time world and three-time European champion was able to repeat his success at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta in the class up to 83 kg. The third gold medal followed in the Olympic Games 2000 in Sydney .

At his last Olympic Games in 2004 in his home town of Athens , Dimas, who was now plagued by numerous injuries, failed in his last attempt at a gold medal. He ultimately won bronze and was celebrated by the Greek audience as the Olympic champion in the last appearance of his career on the podium.

Having won his fourth Olympic medal, he is the most successful weightlifter to date (3 × gold, 1 × bronze) and - together with Ronny Weller from Germany (1 × gold, 2 × silver, 1 × bronze) - winner of most of the Olympic medals in the Weightlifting.

Professional and political career

Since October 11, 2008 Dimas has been President of the Greek Weightlifting Association ΕΟΑΒ.

In April 2012, the social democratic PASOK put Dimas surprisingly on top of their country list for the parliamentary elections . He was polemic about Greece's policy on Northern Epirus ; he complained that the Greek government had forgotten the region.

On February 17, 2014 Dimas took part in the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the declaration of independence of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus (Αὐτόνομος Δημοκρατία τῆς Βορείου Ἠπείρου).

In 2017 he accepted a position as technical director for the American weightlifting association USA Weightlifting .

Private

Dimas is married to Anastasia Sdougkou, a former Greek sports reporter. The couple has four children: Eleni (* 1995), Victor (* 1998), Maria (* 2000) and Nickolas (* 2009).

Trivia

  • At the 2004 Olympics, Dimas was the Greek flag bearer at the opening and closing ceremonies.
  • During his 207.5 kg test in Barcelona in 1992, he shouted "Για την λλλάδα" (translated "Gia tin Ellada"; translated "for Greece") shortly before the discharge.
  • Dimas is a very confident lifter. So after every successful attempt he held up the dumbbell for some time and looked around with a confident look at the spectators.
  • In his youth, his idol was former Soviet-Armenian weightlifter in his class, Yurik Vardanian . His son, Norik Vardanian , in turn worshiped Dimas as an idol in his youth.

Top performances

Awards

  • Golden Cross of the Order of Honor (Χρυσό Σταυρό του Τάγματος της Τιμής της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Antonio Repanas: Pyrros Dimas and the "American Dream" in Greece . Retrieved on August 19, 2016: "This three-time Olympic gold medal winner and one-time bronze winner came to Greece from Albania in 1991." Personally I have never felt like a refugee. I came to my country. I did not go to another country to feel like a refugee or an immigrant. I came here with legal papers and with my entire family. I also had help from Yianni Syorou. However, there were other people from the Northern Epirus who came here illegally from the mountains and who risked their lives [...], "he says."
  2. ^ Ann Heinrichs: Greece . Children's Press, Danbury, Conn. 2002, ISBN 9780516222714 , p. 113: "Born in northern Epirus in 1 971, Dimas competes in the 159-pound"
  3. ↑ Dimitris Keridis: Historical dictionary of modern Greece . Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Md. 2009, ISBN 9780810863125 , p. 55: "Born in Himara in southern Albania to ethnic Greek parents, Pyrros Dimas is a Greek sports hero."
  4. ↑ a b c d e Giovanni Armillotta: Who was the Albanian Pyrros Dimas in Albania. (Cili ishte shqiptari Pirro Dhima ne Shqiperi? - Albanian) In: Albanian Football Magazine. vol. X, 178, April 2008: 12-13.
  5. ↑ a b Χρήστος Κάβουρας: Όταν ο Πύρρος ήρθε για να ... σηκώσει την Ελλάδα! . February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  6. ↑ Pyrros Dimas carries weight of rebuilding his sport. Archived from the original on November 12, 2009 ; Retrieved December 20, 2008 .
  7. ↑ Athens News of April 25, 2012: "Parties unveil state slates" ( Memento of July 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Panorama: Pirro Pirro Dhima deputet, ne krye te listes PASOK. April 24, 2012.
  9. ↑ Thimi Samarxhiu: Pirro Dhima: Greqia të mos e harrojë 'Epirin e Veriut'. In: Balkanweb June 11, 2012. “Kjo zonë për shumë-shumë vite ishte e harruar nga partitë politike greke”: This area was forgotten for many many years from the Greek political parties.
  10. ↑ Panorama: Athina feston 100 vjetorin e Pavaresise se Vorio Epirit, i pranishem edhe Pirro Dhima. 17th February 2014.
  11. ^ Bonnie D. Ford: Raising the Bar . November 29, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  12. ^ Pyrros Dimas @ Lift Up Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 13, 2010 .

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Dimas, pyrros
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dhima, Pirro; Δήμας, Πύρρος; (SqS)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek weightlifter
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Himara , Albania