Pyrros Dimas
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Pyrros Dimas (Greek: Πύρρος Δήμας; Albanian: Pirro Dhima; born October 13, 1971), is a weightlifter and four times Olympic champion.
Dimas born in Himara, Albania to parents of Greek origin, and emigrated to Greece in 1991. He first competed for Greece in the 1992 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in the 82.5 kg class. His birthplace gave rise to his nickname "The Lion of Himara".
With the 1993 and 1995 World titles under his belt, Dimas was heavily favoured for the 83 kg class at the 1996 Summer Olympics, at which he was the flagbearer of the Greek Olympic team. He won the event with two new World Records.
At the Sydney Olympics, he won yet another gold medal, this time in the 85 kg class. This made him one of just three weightlifters to have won three Olympic gold medals, the others being Naim Suleymanoglu (Turkey) and Kakhi Kakhiashvili (Greece). Incidentally, both of these weightlifters were also born in a country other than that for which they were competing; Suleymanoglu in Bulgaria, and Kakhiashvili in Georgia.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, Pyrros Dimas was again chosen as Greek flagbearer for both the opening and closing ceremonies. He became the first weightlifter in history to achieve a medal at four successive Olympic Games, winning the bronze medal in the 85 kg class and cementing his status as a national hero in Greece.
External links
- Official Website (http://www.pyrros.gr/)
- International Weightlifting Federation (http://www.iwf.net/)de:Pyrros Dimas