The curtain fell on “Alexandreio Melathros” from Thessaloniki, and the European Youth and U15 Championships for boys and girls, organized from June 15 to 23, 2024, ended with an impressive closing ceremony, where the best were awarded athletes during the celebration of the International Olympic Day.
The stage emptied, the light panels went out, the lights went out and the President of the Hellenic Weightlifting Federation, Theano Zagliveri, handed over the EWF flag to the representative of Poland, Jacek Goralski, representative of the host country of this year’s European Junior and U23 Championships, in Poland.
The European Junior Weightlifting Championships ended both organizationally and competitively successfully for Greece with five medals for Maria Stratoudakis and Evita Karathanasis, two of which were gold.
A total of 37 European countries participated in the European Championships in Thessaloniki with over 390 athletes who actually participated in the competition, which is a competition record! More than 817 accreditations were issued with 4303 nights and 12909 meals and takeaways provided, besides the 4500 kilometers traveled by the official means of transport including transfer from the airport and those from the delegation’s; hotels to the competition hall.
The President of the European Weightlifting Federation, Antonio Conflitti and the EWF General Secretary, Milan Mihajlovic, awarded the best male and female athletes, as well as the first six countries in each age category of the European Youth and U15 Championships, for both male and female categories. Türkiye, Romania, Poland, Greece, Spain and Italy appeared in the best 6 countries in the U15 women’s category in the order of the best ranked, while in the boys U15
category, the best countries were Georgia, Azerbaijan, Poland, Türkiye, Ukraine and
Bulgaria.
In the best 6 countries in the Youth female category, the first prize went to Ukraine,
second to Turkey, third to Poland, fourth to Spain, fifth to Great Britain and sixth to
Greece.
In the top 6 countries in the Youth male category, Georgia came out on top, followed by Türkiye, Poland, Armenia, Ukraine and Spain.
Awards were also presented by the Hellenic Weightlifting Federation, Federation President Theano Zagliveris and Treasurer Filippia Kochliaridou honored the discus thrower Olympic silver medalist, Anastasia Kelesidou and the member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Thanasis Vassiliadis, who said:; “I am very happy to be with you today. Today’s Olympic Day message takes on special significance as there are only a few days left until the Olympic Games begin. The message is Let’s exercise and celebrate.”
Also honored was the Deputy Mayor of Thessaloniki in charge of Sports and Youth, Koula Giannakidou, who immediately after receiving his award stated: “I speak on behalf of the city and on behalf of Mayor Stelios Angeloudis. Thank you for participating in these championships and I congratulate you. Thank you to the European Federation and Mr. Conflitti for choosing our city and I hope you had a great time. Congratulations to everyone from the Hellenic Federation, but also to everyone who participated.”.
The President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, sending a greeting in a video message to the organization on the occasion of Olympic Day, invited the whole world to sport and celebration.
For his part, Mr. Confliti initially said: “Thank you for the hospitality, thank you to everyone who participated in this event and invited Iris Vlachoutsikos, one of the key members of the Organizing Committee on stage to honor her.
“The important number of athletes participating in this edition gives us confidence in the future of our sport, which will continue to enjoy many top weightlifters who will maintain the prestige of the Olympic weightlifting status”. The EWF President also emphasized the importance of team spirit for the optimal organization of the continental competitions, which are a real challenge for all host countries and he concluded also addressing special thanks to the volunteers and technical officials who took part in this edition of the European Youth and U15 Championships.
President Conflitti then declared the European Youth and U15 Championships officially closed, inviting the president of the Hellenic Federation, Theano Zagliveris and the representative of the Polish Federation, Jacek Goralksi, to the symbolic ceremony of handing over the EWF flag, as Poland will be the country that will host the next this year’s EWF event, in Warsaw, between October 26 – November 3, 2024.
