The President and Secretary General of the EWF, accompanied by Pyrros Dimas visited, on the 15th of March, the Hellenic Olympic Committee Headquarters in Athens, where they had the great pleasure of meeting the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and the European Olympic Committees, Spyros Capralos and the HOC General Secretary Emmanuel Kolympadis.
The EWF officials therefore had the opportunity to discuss the European Youth and U15 Championships, planned this year in Thessaloniki, in June, but they did not lose the opportunity to discuss in detail the activity of the European weightlifting governing body, about projects, development and about the determination to include weightlifting in the program of the continental competitions held under the auspices of the European Olympic rings.
Moreover, the activities undertaken to promote weightlifting at the EOC level, including the demonstration mixed international weightlifting event, organized in Maribor, Slovenia one day after the Opening Ceremony of the 2023 European Youth Olympic Festival, were all remembered with the desire to reach the EWF goals of being accepted as soon as possible in the EYOF 2025 program in Skopje, North Macedonia and in the 2027 European Games.
The discussions generated interest from both sides, especially in the perspective of a new meeting that will take place on the occasion of the EOC Session in Bucharest, on the 5th and 6th of June 2024.
“We are more than delighted about the openness and kindness with which we were received by President Capralos. I hope that in the very near future our dreams will become reality. I think that the biggest steps have already been taken. I want to thank our colleagues and friends Pyrros Dimas and Iris Vlachoutsicos for facilitating this meeting at the highest level. European Weightlifting continues to be on best way for its development”, President Conflitti stated with satisfaction at the end of the visit.
Triple Olympic champion Pyrros Dimas emphasized the success of the meeting: “The development of weightlifting in Europe and the world has always been my priority therefore, I congratulate the EOC and EWF cooperation progress for weightlifting to be part of the EYOF and the European Games.”
Shortly after the meeting, on the social media page of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, through a post, it was also confirmed favorable feedback of President Capralos to the idea of seeing weightlifting in the program of the 2027 European Games.