Pyrros Dimas
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Pyrros Dimas , born on 13 October 1971) is a retired Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
weightlifter, considered as one of the greatest of all time, having been three times Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
champion and three times World Champion
World Weightlifting Championships
World Weightlifting Championships is an event organised by International Weightlifting Federation .It has been held since 1891. In March 1891, competing against champions from Brussels, Hamburg, England, Vienna, Italy, and Berlin in a three-day event, Edward Lawrence Levy of England won the first...
.
Background
Dimas was born to ethnic GreekGreeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
parents in Himara
Himarë
Himarë is a bilingual region and municipality along the Albanian Riviera in southern Albania and part of the District of Vlorë. Apart from the town of Himarë, the region consists of 7 other villages: Dhërmi, Pilur, Kudhës, Qeparo, Vuno, Iljas, and Palasë....
, Northern Epirus
Northern Epirus
Northern Epirus is a term used to refer to those parts of the historical region of Epirus, in the western Balkans, that are part of the modern Albania. The term is used mostly by Greeks and is associated with the existence of a substantial ethnic Greek population in the region...
(Albania).
Victories with Albania
Dimas started the sport at 11 and competed at a junior's level at 14. At 18, in 1989, he became triple Champion of Albania for the 82.5 kg category and in 1990 he repeated himself. While in Albania, he was coached by Ferid BerberiFerid Berberi
Ferid Berberi is an Albanian sportsman. He broke 37 National weightlifting records as an athlete and was a National Champion for 7 years from 1961-1973. As a trainer, notable students he has helped develop include Pyrros Dimas, Alexander Kondo and Ilir Suli...
.
In 1990 he was also accorded the title "Master of Sports" by the Albanian government and the title "European Master" by the European Weightlifting Federation.
He was part of the Albanian weightlifting team to which he made important contributions: In 1989 in the 62nd World Championship of Weightlifting Dimas ranked 12th in the World and helped Albania rank 13th in the world.).
In the 69th European Weightlifting Championship (held in Aalborg
Aalborg
-Transport:On the north side of the Limfjord is Nørresundby, which is connected to Aalborg by a road bridge Limfjordsbroen, an iron railway bridge Jernbanebroen over Limfjorden, as well as a motorway tunnel running under the Limfjord Limfjordstunnelen....
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
May 1990), Dimas ranked 4th in Europe and Albania ranked 3rd (after 1st placed USSR and 2nd placed Bulgaria), and in the European Cup for nations (in Antalya, Turkey, December 1990) Dimas, Luan Shabani and Fatmir Bushi helped Albania rank 2nd in Europe (after 1st placed Bulgaria).
Victories with Greece
Dimas emigrated to Greece in 1991, at age 20. He acquired Greek citizenship in 1992, and first competed under the GreekGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
flag in the 1992 Summer Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
, winning the gold medal in the 82.5 kg class.
During his 202.5 kg lift at the clean and jerk, he shouted "Για την Ελλάδα!" (transliterated "Yia tin Ellada!"; meaning "For Greece!"), thus dedicating his victory to Greece. This is the catchphrase with which he is most associated in Greece.
At a time when Greek success at the Olympics was limited, he and Voula Patoulidou
Voula Patoulidou
Paraskevi Patoulidou was born in Tripotamo . A prolific athlete, Patoulidou throughout her athletics career competed in the 100 metres, 100 metres hurdles and in the long jump events. Patoulidou became a Greek sporting legend in 1992, when she was the surprise winner of the Women's 100 m hurdles...
(the surprise
Gail Devers
Yolanda Gail Devers is a retired three-time Olympic champion in track and field for the US Olympic Team. Devers was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up near National City, California and graduated from Sweetwater High School in 1984...
gold medalist at the 100m hurdles
100 metres hurdles
The 100 m hurdles are an Olympic track and field athletics discipline run by women . For the race ten hurdles of a height of 83.8 cm are placed evenly spaced along a straight course of 100 meters. They are positioned so that they will fall over if bumped into by the runner...
) became instant national heroes. They were greeted as such on their return to Greece at a grand ceremony attended by more than 100,000 people at the Panathinaikon Stadium
Panathinaiko Stadium
The Panathinaiko or Panathenaic Stadium , also known as the Kallimarmaro , is an athletic stadium in Athens that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. His birthplace gave rise to his nickname "The Lion of Himara". His outstanding number of Olympic Gold Medals created another nickname "Midas".
Characteristic of his self-confidence was his tendency to keep the weights lifted after the buzzer had sounded so that the crowd could take photographs.
With the 1993 and 1995 World titles under his belt, Dimas was the favorite to win Olympic Gold in the 83 kg class at the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
, where he was the flagbearer of the Greek Olympic team. He won the event with two new World Records.
At the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, he won yet another gold medal, this time in the 85 kg class. This made him one of just three weightlifters at that time to have won three Olympic gold medals, the others being Naim Süleymanoğlu
Naim Süleymanoglu
Naim Süleymanoğlu , formerly known as Naim Suleimanov , is a Turkish World and Olympic Champion in weightlifting...
(Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, but born in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
) and Kakhi Kakhiashvili
Kakhi Kakhiashvili
Kakhi Kakhiashvili ,, a Georgian-Greek weightlifter, is one of only four weightlifters to have won three consecutive gold medals at Olympic Games....
(Greece, but born in Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
). Halil Mutlu
Halil Mutlu
Halil Mutlu is a professional Turkish weightlifter with several World and Olympic championships. Mutlu is one of the four weightlifters achieving three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games...
(like Süleymanoğlu, a Bulgaria-born Turk
Turks in Bulgaria
The Turks in Bulgaria number 588,318 people and constitute 8.8% of those who declared their ethnic group and 8.0% of the total population according to the 2011 Bulgarian census. 605,802 persons or 9.1% of the population pointed Turkish language as their mother tongue. They are also the largest...
) would become the fourth in 2004.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Greece, Dimas was again chosen as Greek flagbearer for both the opening
2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games was held on August 13, 2004 at the Olympic Stadium in Maroussi, Greece, a suburb of Athens. 72,000 spectators attended the event, with approximately 15,000 athletes from 202 countries participating in the ceremony as well...
and closing ceremonies. Dimas was recovering from knee surgery and a hurt wrist and was not expected to compete in these Olympics, but he came away with a bronze medal in the 85 kg class, becoming only the fourth weightlifter in history to win a medal at four different Olympic Games and only the third to win them successively four times, thus cementing his status as a national hero in Greece.
After earning the bronze medal he signalled his retirement by leaving his shoes on the platform, while the appreciative Greek crowd gave him a standing ovation.
In June 2008, Dimas became vice-president, and in October 2008 president of the Hellenic Weightlifting Federation.
Personal life
Dimas is married to Anastasia Sdougkou, a former Greek National Television (ERT)Elliniki Radiofonia Tileorasi
The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation is the Greek state-owned public radio and television broadcasting corporation. It is a member of EBU.Since 70's ERT is part of the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by EBU...
sports reporter. Together they have four children, Eleni (b. 1995), Victor (b. 1998), Maria (b. 2000), and Nickolas (b.2009).
Career bests
- SnatchSnatch (weightlifting)The snatch is one of the two olympic weightlifting events .The essence of the event is to lift a barbell from the platform to locked arms overhead in a smooth continuous movement. The barbell is pulled as high as the lifter can manage at which point the barbell is flipped overhead...
: 180.5 kg 1999 in AthensAthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in the class to 85 kg. - Clean and jerkClean and jerkThe clean and jerk is one of the two Olympic weightlifting events .The clean portion of the lift refers to the lifter explosively pulling the weight from the floor to a racked position across deltoids and clavicles...
: 215.0 kg 2000 Summer Olympics2000 Summer OlympicsThe Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
in the class to 85 kg. - Total: 392.5 kg 1996 Summer Olympics1996 Summer OlympicsThe 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
in the class to 83 kg. - Front Squat: 290.0 kg
- Back Squat: 330.0 kg
- Clean Pull: 250.0 kg
- Deadlift: 290.0 kg
- Power Snatch: 155.0 kg