The HOC Annual Awards Ceremony was held with great success in the presence of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic Mr Prokopios Pavlopoulos, many Olympic medalists and champions as well as various prominent figures of the sports world and politics. The athletes that were honored along with their trainers for the gold medals they won in the European and World Championships of 2018 were Lefteris Petrounias, Anna Korakaki, Eleni Hatziliadou, Katerina Stefanidi, Miltos Tentoglou and Voula Papachristou. The athletes who won medals in the Youth Olympic Games “Buenos Aires 2018”, Elina Tzengko, Christina Bourbou and Maria Kridou, Alexandros Kalpogiannakis, Savvas Thomoglou, Fani Tzeli, Olga Fiaska and Antonia Sakellaridou were also honored. Anna Korakaki, Vyron Kokkalanis, Maria Bozi and Rafailina Klonaridou and Vasileia Karahaliou were honored for securing quota places for the “TOKYO 2020” Olympic Games.
The ceremony was also attended by the President of the European Olympic Committees Janez Kocijančič, who honored the President of the Hellenic Republic Mr Prokopios Pavlopoulos and the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Spyros Capralos. President Janez Kocijančič and the Secretary General of the European Olympic Committees Mr Raffaele Pagnozzi received awards by Spyros Capralos and the HOC Secretary General Manolis Kolympadis. The IOC Trophy 2018 – “Olympism in Action” was awarded to Dr Stefanos Handakas, who secured the medical support programme for the athletes and for his contribution to sport and Olympism. The “Dimitrios Vikelas Trophy 2018” of the Hellenic Olympic Committee was awarded to the Olympic champion Voula Patoulidou and to Ioannis Papadogiannakis, former HOC Vice President and Chef de Mission of the Greek team in four Olympic Games. Vassiliki Millousi, champion in gymnastics was honored upon her retirement from the active involvement in top-level competition. The President of the International Committee of Mediterranean Games Amar Addadi and the Secretary General Iakovos Filippousis also attended the ceremony.
The President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee said in his speech: “We bade farewell to 2018 with great satisfaction and pride, as the year was concluded for our country with 125 medals in World and European championships in all categories, a strong proof that our athletes are the best ambassador of Greece. Today, we have the honor to have here with us the President of the European Olympic Committees Mr Janez Kocijancic and the Secretary General Mr Raffaele Pagnozzi. The IOC and the European Olympic Committees, deeply concerned for the wildfires that hit Greece last summer, offered 150.000$ to athletes and sport infrastructure who suffered from them. I want to wholeheartedly thank them for this important gesture, which shows solidarity to our country and to the Hellenic Olympic Committee. I want to thank in particular H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic who is honoring us once again with his presence here tonight, proving his great support for the sports youth of the country honored here today.”
The President of the European Olympic Committees Janez Kocijančič said among other things: "We are delighted to be here in the annual awards ceremony of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and proud to be at the cradle of the Olympic values and ideals. Unfortunately not everything is ideal as there is a development of commercial values that are pressing out the sport values, the sport ideals and we all need to struggle united for the ethics of sport. It is one of the rare moments in 120 years that there is no IOC member for Greece which from my point of you is an embarrassment and a shame and this problem has to be resolved".