The President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach congratulated Greece in the most formal way for the Lighting Ceremony of the Olympic Flame in Ancient Olympia on October 24. In his opening address to the General Assembly of the Association of the National Olympic Committees in Prague today, Mr Bach, addressing the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Spyros Capralos, congratulated him on the excellent organization of the ceremony he had attended himself.
Mr Capralos, currently attending the works of the General Assembly, accompanied by the HOC Secretary General Manolis Kolymbadis, the HOC member and Chairman of the HOC’s Ethics Commission Emmanuel Katsiadakis and the member of the HOC Plenary Session Xenia Argitaki, stressed: “We would like to thank you for honoring this important event, the Lighting Ceremony of the Flame for the Winter Olympic Games “PyeongChang 2018”. Thank you very much for your kind words for the organization. I think the message that you passed to the world when you invited in Olympia the Presidents of the Olympic Committees of the countries that will host the next Olympic Games, shows the unity and solidarity of the Olympic Movement and that is a very important dimension.”
Greece received a very positive response for the excellent organizing of the two Ceremonies of the Olympic Flame, in Ancient Olympia and at the Panathenaic Stadium. The President of the Organizing Committee of the next Winter Olympic Games Hee-beom LEE spoke highly about the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Spyros Capralos and the Chairman of the Olympic Torch Relay Commission Thanassis Vassiliadis, who followed the sacred Light on its journey around Greece. After the end of the Handover Ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium, the Korean delegation asked to be photographed with the High Priestess Katerina Lehou, the choreographer Artemis Ignatiou and all those who participated in the ceremonies of the Flame. The Japanese observers who came here, in view of the 2020 Olympic Games, were impressed by the organizational quality and the professionalism demonstrated by all those who participated in this project, highlighting Greece in the best possible way. Watch here the answer of the HOC President Spyros Capralos to the IOC President Thomas Bach: