The Hellenic Olympic Committee’s Annual Awards Ceremony was held at the HOC Conference Hall in the presence of the Vice President of the Government, Panagiotis Pikrammenos, the Deputy Minister of Sport, Lefteris Avgenakis, the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and President of the Association of friends of children with cancer “Elpida”, Marianna Vardinogianni and many more prominent figures in sports, politics and arts.

In his speech, the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and IOC Member, Spyros Capralos, said: “The new year which has just begun is very important. This is a “double” Olympic year! Greece participated with 12 athletes in the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne which have just ended. The biggest sporting event in the world, the Tokyo Olympic Games will start in 182 days as of now.

Greek athletes, as has been the case since 1896, will travel to Tokyo with the aim of making all Greeks proud once again, with their overall presence and – we hope – with their successful performance. Twenty-three athletes have already secured their participation in the Olympics and I hope that this number will grow significantly this year”.

Mr. Capralos also stated: “The Hellenic Olympic Committee will move towards the new decade that has just begun. With the new statutes and by a new law which came into effect, the HOC has changed its status from public to private entity. Therefore, I would like to thank the Deputy Minister of Sport, Lefteris Avgenakis, for satisfying this specific request, which was not only ours but also the IOC’s. Now the HOC will be faster, more flexible and more effective in decision-making and implementation, with absolute transparency. It will be controlled by one of the four major international audit firms. At the same time implementation of innovations that reflect the modern trends of sport will be facilitated.
We are also pleased, as with the changes in the statutes, the growing trend for the active participation of athletes, within the HOC, will be also satisfied. In the future, within the Executive Committee, there will be three athletes, two of whom will be voted by the athletes participating in the Olympic Games and one will be voted by the Greek Olympians. All three will have the right to vote and be elected to all the HOC Commissions, whereas the Chairperson of the Athletes’ Commission will participate in the HOC Executive Committee.

We would like to thank you Mr. Avgenakis, for changing the statutes. We are, of course, in favour of the need for renewal and active participation of young people with fresh ideas and scientific excellence; nevertheless, we do not support the retroactive effect of the limitations of term limits.

During the ceremony the HOC honored the athletes who were qualified for the Olympic Games within 2019, namely: Miltos Tentoglou, Voula Papachristou, Nikol Kyriakopoulou, Katerina Stefanidi, Andreas Vazaios, Anna Doudounaki, Apostolos Christou, Kristian Golomeev, Giannis Georgarakis, Apostolos Papastamos, Nikos Mavrommatis, Maria Prevolaraki, Polychronis Tzortzakis, Maria Kyridou, Christina Bourbou, Panagiotis Mantis, Pavlos Kayialis and Giannis Mitakis.

The athletes who won medals at the 2nd European Games of Minsk, Belarus last summer, also received awards: Anna Korakaki, Eleni Hatziliadou, Christos Volikakis, Rafaela Spanoudaki, Savvas Karakizidis, Giorgos Azoidis and Kostas Douvalidis.
Artemis Ignatiou , Choreographer of the Lighting and Handover Ceremonies, and Georgios Andreadis, prominent sport figure of world sailing, were honored with the HOC’s highest award “Dimitrios Vikelas”, in recognition of their invaluable contribution to the Olympic Movement.

The 2019 IOC Trophy “Sport and Sustainable Architecture” was awarded to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for the construction of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center which was designed on sustainable standards. The Center was then donated to the people of Greece.