Dimas is the most decorated Greek athlete in the Olympics and is widely considered one of the greatest weightlifters of all time, having been three times Olympic Gold Medalist (in his fourth Olympiad, a knee injury notwithstanding, he won the bronze medal), and three times World Champion. He was named the Greek Male Athlete of the Year, for the years 1992, 1993, 1995, and 1996.[3]
Early years
Dimas was born in 1971 in Himarë, southern Albania,[4] to ethnic Greek parents.[5][6][7] 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.[8]
While in Albania, he was coached by Zef Kovaci. 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.[8]
Results representing Albania
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.[8]
In the 69th European Weightlifting Championship (held in Aalborg, 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, Leonidas Sabanis and Fatmir Bushi helped Albania rank 2nd in Europe (after 1st placed Bulgaria).[8]
Results representing Greece
During his stay in Aalborg he came in contact with representatives of the Greece national team: Giannis Sgouros and Christos Iakovou and he expressed great enthusiasm for a future cooperation. However, the political situation in Albania prohibited him from leaving the country.[9] Dimas managed to cross the Greek-Albanian border at 7 February 1991, after a several hour exhaustive trip. He then stayed in Athens.[9] He acquired Greek citizenship in 1992,[8] and first competed under the Greek flag in the 1992 Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal in the 82.5 kg class.
During his third lift for the clean and jerk event, he shouted "Για την Ελλάδα!" (transliterated "Gia 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 Greece's success in the Olympics was limited, he and Voula Patoulidou, the surprise gold medalist in the 100m hurdles, became instant national heroes. They were greeted as such on their return to Greece at a grand ceremony attended by 60,000 people in the Panathinaikon Stadium in Athens, with a further 30,000 outside the stadium.[10] 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 for the 1996 Summer Olympics, where he was the flag bearer of the Greece Olympic team. He won the event with two new World Records.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, Dimas was chosen as Greece flag bearer for both the opening 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 the fourth weightlifter in history to win a medal at four different Olympic Games, the third to win those four medals successively, and the only one whose four medals include 3 golds, thus cementing his status as a national hero in Greece and as an international weightlifting legend.
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.[11]
In June 2008, Dimas became vice-president,[12] and in October 2008 president of the Hellenic Weightlifting Federation.[13]
Political activities
In 2012, Dimas entered politics as a member of PASOK, being elected as a member of Greek parliament in the May and June 2012 elections.[14] He was soon polemical with Greece's policies with Northern Epirus- his place of origin- claiming that the Greek government has "forgotten" it.[15]
Dimas has campaigned for the rights of ethnic Greeks in Albania, drawing attention to alleged human rights abuses (in particular alleged land grabs against the Greek community of Himara), while calling on the Greek government to intervene.[16] On 17 February 2014 Dimas participated in the ceremony of 100th anniversary of the declaration of Autonomy of the Republic of Northern Epirus.[17] Dimas propagates against what he considers to be discrimination policies of the Albanian state against the Greek community of Himara,[18] as well as of the rights of the Greek population of Northern Epirotes in general.[19]
In an interview in 2016 he stated that "we are referring to Pontus, Cyprus, but for the first time Northern Epirus was heard in the Greek parliament when they saw me".[20] At December 2018 Dimas protested against the confiscation of properties that belong to the ethnic Greek community of Himara and called the Albanian government to avoid discrimination of this kind.[21]
On May 15, 2023, Dimas protested against the arrest and imprisonment by the Albanian authorities of the representative of the Greek minority, Fredis Beleris, on charges of vote buying. The latter was elected mayor of Himara.[22][23]
Dimas was married to Anastasia Sdougkou, a former Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation sports reporter. Together they had four children. His wife died of brain cancer on 14 June 2018.[25]
Career bests
Snatch: 180.5 kg 1999 in Athens in the class to 85 kg.
^"Pyrros Dimas". www.peace-sport.org. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
^Goodbody, John. "100 greatest Olympic moments: Dimas has the Midas touch". The Times. Retrieved 13 September 2022. the Greek weightlifter Pyrros Dimas had a similar burden in Athens. ... partly because he had been born in Albania in northern Epirus,
^Repanas, Antonios. "Pyrros Dimas and the "American Dream" in Greece". Retrieved 19 August 2016. This three-time Olympic gold medal winner and one-time bronze winner came to Greece from Albania in 1991. "Personally I have never felt like a refugee. I came to my country. I did not go to another country to feel like a refugee or an immigrant. I came here with legal papers and with my entire family. I also had help from Yianni Syorou. However, there were other people from the Northern Epirus who came here illegally from the mountains and who risked their lives.
^Heinrichs, Ann (2002). Greece. Danbury, Conn.: Children's Press. p. 113. ISBN9780516222714. Born in northern Epirus in 1 971, Dimas competes in the 159-pound
^ abcdeArmillotta, Giovanni (April 2008). "Cili ishte shqiptari Pirro Dhima ne Shqiperi?" [Who was the Albanian Pyrros Dimas in Albania]. Albanian Football Magazine (in Albanian). X (178): 12–13. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
^Samarxhiu, Thimi (11 June 2012). "Pirro Dhima: Greqia të mos e harrojë 'Epirin e Veriut'". Balkanweb. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Kjo zonë për shumë-shumë vite ishte e harruar nga partitë politike greke; This area was forgotten for many many years from the Greek political parties.
^Group), Radiotileoptiki S. A. (OPEN Digital (1 January 1980). "Επίθεση Πύρρου Δήμα σε Αλβανία για απαλλοτριώσεις στη Χειμάρρα". ΕΘΝΟΣ (in Greek). Retrieved 2 October 2022. Ενώνω τη φωνή μου με εκείνες των απανταχού Βορειοηπειρωτών, και καλούμε την Κυβέρνηση της Αλβανίας να ανακαλέσει, έστω την ύστατη στιγμή, την εν λόγω υπουργική απόφαση και να αποσύρει το σχετικό Νομοσχέδιο, που στην ουσία απαλλοτριώνουν περιουσίες που αποδεδειγμένα, βάσει χαρτών, ανήκουν σε Βορειοηπειρώτες.
1 Includes localities with a substantial ethnic Greek population, or otherwise with any kind of cultural or other type of significance, historical or current, for the Greek minority in Albania. 2 Includes individuals not necessarily of Greek ethnicity but with important contributions to Greek civilization.
