EOC President and Secretary General Janez Kocijančič and Raffaele Pagnozzi were awarded at the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) Annual Awards Ceremony, which was successfully held in Athens on 9 January.

They both received the prizes by HOC President and Secretary General Spyros Capralos Manolis Kolympadis, who wanted to thank the EOC for its support to the Greek NOC during the wildfires that devastated the country last summer.

“The IOC, the EOC and the ANOC deeply concerned for the disaster that hit Greece last summer, offering 150.000$ to athletes and sport infrastructure who suffered from them,” Capralos said. “I want to wholeheartedly thank EOC for this important gesture, which shows solidarity to our country and to the Hellenic Olympic Committee.”

For his part, Kocijančič extended the greetings of the European Olympic family to the participants and thanked the HOC for its contribution to today’s world: “It is an honour to be here today. We are all aware that Greece is at the cradle of the Olympic ideals and values and we are very proud that your nation invented such a unifying and successful event,” he said. “The Olympic Games are one of the rare ideas that really unites the world”.

The event – which saw the participation of President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopios Pavlopoulos – intended to honour many Olympic medallists and champions along with their trainers for their gold medals achievements at the European and World Championships of 2018. Among them figured Lefteris Petrounias (gymnastics), Anna Korakaki (shooting), Eleni Hatziliadou (karate), Katerina Stefanidi (pole vault), Miltos Tentoglou (long jump) and Voula Papachristou (triple jump).

The young athletes who won medals in the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games were also paid tribute: Elina Tzengko (javelin), Christina Bourbou and Maria Kridour (rowing), Alexandros Kalpogiannakis (sailing), Savvas Thomoglou (swimming), Fani Tzeli (taekwondo), Olga Fiaska (5.000 m walking) and Antonia Sakellaridou (trampoline).

“The 7 medals achieved by the HOC at the YOG were a success especially because showed that Greek sport does not only have a rich heritage but also a very bright future,” Kocijančič stated.

While Anna Korakaki (shooting), Vyron Kokkalanis (sailing), Maria Bozi and Rafailina Klonaridou (sailing) and Vasileia Karahaliou (sailing) were acknowledged for securing quota places for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.