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The President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and member of the International Olympic Committee, Spyros Capralos, was awarded one of the most important distinctions of the Japanese state to prominent personalities from all over the world.
The Order of the Rising Sun Order, Golden Rays after Film, was awarded by the Ambassador of Japan to Greece Yasunori Nakayama to the President of the HOC, in a special ceremony at the Ambassador's residence.
The award of the Order of the Order of the Rising Sun was made following a decision by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Yosimasa Hayashi for the valuable contribution of Mr. Capralos to the strengthening of relations between Japan and Greece through sports and for his contribution to the highly successful organization of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The Ambassador of Japan to Greece stated: "The government of the country has decided to decorat Mr. Capralos as a sign of recognition of the great contribution he made to the success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. With his continuous efforts and the decisions he made, the Ceremonies of Touch and Delivery of the Olympic Flame were organized successfully and safely due to the pandemic, while his support to the project of organizing the Olympic Games was continuous. The difficulties we managed to overcome together, I believe, have further strengthened the relations between Greece and Japan and I want to express my gratitude and respect for the efforts he made not only to make the Games but also to be particularly successful."
Upon receiving the medal, the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee stated: "This medal is a great honor for me. It's something special, just as the Olympic Games you organized were special. The Japanese people, in extremely difficult conditions such as those we live in, carried out the struggles with great success, when this mission seemed impossible to fulfill. Japan made us all proud of what it achieved and the Olympics were a huge success. To gather so many people under these conditions is something that only a people like the Japanese with discipline, determination and passion for sports, can achieve. For our part, we did the best we could, lighting the Olympic Flame but also sending the Greek team to Tokyo. The Tokyo Olympics were special for me and will remain forever in my heart, because for the first time I participated as a member of the IOC but also because I had the honor and the pleasure to award the gold medal to a Greek athlete, our rower Stefanos Ntouskos".
The Ceremony was attended by the two Vice-Presidents of the HOC Stelios Angeloudis, Stefanos Chandakas, the Secretary General Manolis Kolymbadis, the Treasurer Antonis Nikolopoulos, the President of the HOC Marketing Committee Nikos Iatrou and the President of the Greek Olympians and member of the HOC Voula Kozompoli.
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