Pyrros Dimas – The “legend” of Greek Weightlifting tells his life story

THE Pyrrhus Dimas he spent half his life in the arena. Under the bar... He overcame many obstacles to become who he became as an athlete. To become what he became as a father. Obstacles, injuries, bitterness, losses. However, he never gave up.

He managed to do things that 99% of athletes in all sports never dared to dream of. If we talk about… GOAT in weightlifting anyway, the debate will be “Dimas or Suleymanoglu».

On this day, the death of Evangelis Zappa, who paved the way for the modern Olympic Games

THE Pyrrhus, ο πιο πετυχημένος Ελληνας αθλητής στην ιστορία με 4 ολυμπιακά μετάλλια (3 χρυσά, ένα χάλκινο), 6 χρυσά σε παγκόσμιο πρωτάθλημα και τρία σε Ευρωπαϊκό (συνολικά 26 μετάλλια στις τρεις διοργανώσεις), καθώς και αρκετά παγκόσμια ρεκόρ (τρία έκανε μόνο στην Ατλάντα το 1996) μίλησε στο Newspaper unraveling the tangle of his memories from the day he came to Greece by taxi from Tirana to stay here once and for all, the Olympic Games and his role as a father after the loss of his wife.

"I got into a taxi to come from Tirana to Athens"

His arrival in Greece on February 7, 1991 was adventurous. This was because he left at 1 am from Tirana by taxi, arriving in Athens after about 14 hours.

"ORit was February 1991 when I got into a taxi to come from the Tirana in the Athens.

I was supposed to fly, but the flight was canceled. I took a taxi to Kakavia and from there another taxi that the Frizzy to pick me up to get to Athens.

I had come to Greece again, of course, but then I settled in a studio apartment in Nea Smyrni.

When my parents came, we took the apartment on Solonos, that semi-basement.» remembers the Pyrrhus Dimas.

"Mitsotakis' driver brought my passport"

Even upon his arrival in Greece, until he got on the plane for the Barcelona he didn't know if he would be able to compete.

This is because he got his passport at the very last moment. And in a way that remained etched in his memory...

«So that i can compete in Barcelona i had to qualify first.

The Albanian federation had given me permission to transfer to Greece.

I went to compete with a diplomatic passport and qualified.

But I got the passport at the last minute.

Just before I got on the plane, Mitsotakis' driver brought it to me.».

"They didn't know me and were shaking their heads"

Finally he managed to go to BarcelonaHe had the medal in mind. Even the gold.

Still unknown in Greece, when he declared his goals, reporters looked at him suspiciously...

"ORi was going for a medal in Barcelona, but I didn't know what color it would be.

I remember cameras had come to the airport and when they came to ask me about my goals, I told them I was going for the gold.

They didn't know me then and I remember them shaking their heads.

How could they know...

Finally I won my first medal. Like the last one, it is the most important of my career.».

Behind the scenes with Voula Patoulidou

Upon returning to Greece with the Voula Patoulidou experienced unprecedented moments in the reception and the procession to the Kallimarmaro.

Pyrrhus recounts the… background with the Patoulidou, just before they got off the plane, where it is confessed that both were... surprised by what they saw happening outside it.

"Thewhen we returned to Athens, I remember that I had to go out first. Voula.

He sat in front of the window and looked out to see what was happening. There he told me that he was going to freshen up and they put me in front. He had understood what was happening outside.

It was truly unprecedented. A terrifyingly great moment.».

"In Atlanta they opened the air condition and I got a cold"

At 21 he won the gold medal, but at 25 he was going to the Atlanta as the big favorite for gold. It was there that he carried the most stress he had in his career.

And everything almost got ruined because of an… air condition.

«In Atlanta, the weight was very heavy because of the gold four years ago. But luckily we prepared for 3 months in Atlanta and were away from everyone we knew.

We didn't know what the media was writing. From Atlanta, I will never forget that when we went to the Village, we lived in apartments, two by two.

At 2 am someone turned on the air conditioning condition and I, who was sleeping on my stomach, woke up in the morning with a chill on my back. This happened on Tuesday and I was racing on Saturday.

I couldn't train for three days and was running to doctors for treatments and cortisone shots.

The day before I felt good and had my best race. I was comfortable and had no pressure in the race.» confesses the Dimas.

"In Sydney, friends and enemies said i would lose"

Four years later came the Sydney where he went to make history against predictions and the… mistakes he himself made.

His... obsession with watermelon almost cost him his life.

«For the Sydney i remember acquaintances, friends, and enemies saying that I would lose weight. On the other hand, I also had the issue with watermelon and the pounds.

When I lost it, I didn't know where I was or where I was. I was a different athlete. In the snatch, I almost got disqualified. But in a weightlifting competition, you don't have time to think.

But do you want Jacob's slap on the back? Do you want the fact that the Georgian came out to celebrate with his flag before the match was over? That's where my ego hit a little.

And that worked positively. It brought me back to my… normal self and I got the result in no time.».

"With one foot and one hand in Athens"

At 33, he had decided to retire from active play after Athens. He wanted to end his career at home in the Olympic GamesExcept that this too had to be done after going through a thousand waves.

«In the Athens i went through a lot of injuries. In 2001, I had shoulder surgery. In 2003, I had meniscus surgery. And in 2004, I had foot problems. Plus, I was getting older no matter what. About a month and a half before the Olympic, I had a problem with my cartilage and Nikolaou he was telling me to have surgery. I didn't want to, but I did it in the end. I wasn't 100% ready for the competition and on Monday, six days before the final, I hit my wrist in training, lifting 170kg. We went to the doctor, we got cortisone, but I wasn't supposed to compete. I ended up getting xylocaine the night before."he initially said.

«I saw that I wasn't in pain and entered the race. There I used xylocaine again. The fruit had become a stump. I couldn't function properly, especially in the sprint. But it was my last race and I wanted to compete. To get everything I could. To be honest, with all that, I didn't expect to get a medal. I took out what was left in the tank. With one leg and one arm. And then at the award ceremony... magic».

«I watch the video, but if you're not there to experience it, you can't see that it's unrelated. i had mixed feelings. on The one hand, I was upset because the way the race went, if i hadn't had injuries i could have won gold. a Fourth gold would be a big deal.

No one could have overcome that. On the other hand, I was glad I fought. When I took off the shoe, my heart broke because I realized that the end had come.».

"I felt a little depressed, I didn't know if 50 euros was enough for sugar and coffee"

As for any athlete who retires from active activity, so for the Dima the next day was difficult. Difficult because he had to find a balance between family and new goals because at that moment he didn't know what his next step would be.

«In the end, I thought I would never hear that… bang on the door from Iakovos again at 7 in the morning. I remember telling Anastasia for six months to let me sleep and… whatever time I woke up.

That helped me, and so did my family because I was feeling a little depressed about all of that. Not lifting weights, not doing anything. I was miserable. And at the same time, I had to go back to a different life.

I had to run for the kids. Take them to school, soccer, go shopping. I remember Anastasia telling me to buy sugar, bread, and coffee and I asked her if 50 euros was enough!

I had no idea about these things. But I gradually got back into everyday life. With the support of my family, I was able to overcome the shock of leaving.

"And at the same time I realized that life is not just about lifting weights," he said in Newspaper the three-time "gold" Olympic champion.

"I decided to put my name forward to save Weightlifting"

In the end, he didn't stay far away from the world of weightlifting. After getting involved in politics, joining his party PASOK in Parliament, the Dimas he devoted himself to his sport again and soon assumed the presidency of EOAB, which was going through the worst period in its history, with doping scandals and huge financial problems.

"I decided to put my name forward to save the sport while everyone else was hiding. I paid $400,000 so we wouldn't be in debt during a time when there were no sponsors. The budget was reduced, but we managed to be in debt nowhere in 2015. And then came the 50% cut that broke us up. Now we're doing a restart." ". We tried for 7 years with a few partners to get the federation back on its feet. People who some considered... outsiders to the sport, but they helped find sponsors and money. They didn't treat weightlifting right. I would say they fought it. They didn't want to help it and they weren't right in a sport that had so much success in the past," he said.

Alongside the federation, the Dimas he is also the technical director of the team of USAA job for which he has been criticized, however, as he himself emphasizes, he is not doing anything illegal. On the contrary, he needed an additional job for many reasons.

"Here I had found closed doors when the offer came from the USA. I was treated as an enemy by some. But I had no job at that time. With children studying, with a sick wife, I couldn't not go. It's not that I was in the football world to make millions. And the work I do in the USA has nothing to do with what I do in Greece. It is an honor for Greece to have a technical director in a major foreign federation," emphasizes the Dimas.

"We are still trying to pick up our pieces from the loss of Anastasia"

With his obligations between USA and Athens, things weren't that easy. Three of his four children currently live in Greece, with the exception of Maria, who is studying biology at a university in Chicago.

"All these years we had done Chicago-Athens As If it were kypseli-Kolonaki. We Are A close-knit family despite the fact that we lived far from each other. we dealt With it. Even now that my daughter, maria, is studying In chicago (ed. She Is Studying biology at Loyola and also does weightlifting) every two days we have video calls together and talk about whatever is troubling us." reported to Newspaper.

For him Dima life at 50 is full of responsibilities. Which have increased after the loss of his wife. However, he tries to pass on the optimistic side of the situation to his children.

"Even today we are trying to pick up our pieces from the loss of Anastasia". We are all trying to support mainly the little one who is still 12 years old. He has the greatest need for support from all of us. And we are above him in every way. Nothing is a given in life, what I want to pass on to my children for their future is to live each day individually and enjoy their lives." he said, while emphasizing cancer:

"Cancer is a very difficult issue and there are people who struggle every day to find the medicine to cure it. I hope that at some point we can end this. When it happened to my wife, I said: why us? But while doing her chemotherapy, I saw babies and young children around us and I understood that we are not alone. That is why we have to live and enjoy every day of our lives."

Source: Kostas Efthymiadis / gazzetta.gr