Bodies of the Greek Olympic family in the women's prison of Thebes

A different women's day, with concern and support for women serving sentences and hoping for a " second chance ".
The "Pierre de Coubertin" committee of the Hellenic Federation of Modern Pentathlon in collaboration with the National Olympic Academy, the International Olympic Truce Center and the Association of Participants in the Olympic Games visited the women's detention center in Thebes.

The president of the Federation of Modern Pentathlon Mrs. Dora Palli in a speech to the detainees mentioned among others about the values of Olympism and the philosophy of the committee "Pierre de Coubertin" and sports and its benefits in mental and physical health.

This was the purpose of today's visit:
To help them feel the joy of participating in a team sport, to understand the concept of equality, and diversity, as well as to defuse and escape from their everyday life.

The athletic activities were carried out by the Olympic champion Irene Aindili (First Vice-President of the ESOA), Maria Karpathaki, world champion of taekwondo and Police Officer A, Deniz Panagopoulou, director of ETHNOA and tennis champion, Grigoris Hasatourian, Olympic champion of Handball and ambassador of the IKOE
and Nektaria Constantinou Professor of Physical Education and coordinator of the action.
The event was covered by Mrs. Spyridoula Irida Spanea journalist of "Kathimerini".

An action that according to the words of the director of the women's detention center Eleonas Thiva, Mr. Makris was taking place for the first time and with a unique response from the women who are detained there.
"Thank you for your fun. You gave us a lot of joy and made our day", was the prisoners' statement.

We closed with the planting of an olive tree by the director of the Prisons and all the participants in the action, as a symbol of Peace and solidarity and with the promise that the action will continue. We hope that on our next visit, with the care of the women, our "olive tree" will have grown...

We would like to thank the Secretary General of anti-crime policy, Kostas Papapathanasiou, for his support.

Source - IOTC