Federations intervention in the sports bill on distinguished athletes

The Federations of Weightlifting, Wrestling, Boxing and Taekwondo co -signed and sent on Thursday to Deputy Minister of Sports, Yiannis Broutsis, a report calling for improvement to amending Article 10 concerning financial athletes.

It is a standing timeless demand of the distinguished Olympic sports athletes and athletes. As is well known, not all the weight categories that international federations have in the World and European Championships have in the Olympics.

According to the applicable law, athletes who have been successful in the World and European Olympic Sports Championships are rewarded if their weight category is also Olympic. For example, at the European Wrestling Championships in 2022, George Kougioumtzidis was crowned European champion at 79k, but because the weight category is not Olympic he cannot receive the privileges and financial rewards.

On the same time, in the same year and in the same event, Olympian Dauren Kurugliev with the same success because he competed in the Olympic category he will receive them normally.

In Taekwondo, Stelios Mehteridis-Papadopoulos won the bronze medal at the European Championship in the 63-68k category. men and received the privileges of the state.

In the same year, in the same event, Ioanna Koutsou, Vassilis Gaitanis and Nikos Politis climbed to the podium of the winners, but because they were not in the Olympic category they did not receive the bonuses. There are many examples …

It is an injustice to Olympic sports athletes, as everyone knows that not all categories are involved in the Olympics for the sake of time economy and maximizing interest by the sports public. The separation of Olympic Sports Athletes competing in the same event and raising the Greek flag high and glorify the country in the same world and European championships is unfair, there must be no and must be restored.