The President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and member of the International Olympic Committee Spyros Capralos, was awarded with one of the most important distinctions of the Japanese state to outstanding personalities all over the world. The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon was conferred by the Ambassador of Japan to Greece Yasunori Nakayama to the HOC President in a dedicated ceremony at the Ambassador’s residence in Athens.Τhe conferral of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon was made following a decision by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoshimasa Hayashi for the great contribution of Mr. Capralos in strengthening through sports the relationships between Japan and Greece 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 my country decided to award Mr. Capralos as a sign of recognition for his great contribution to the success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. With his continuous efforts and the decisions he made, the Lighting Ceremony and the Handover Ceremony of the Olympic Flame were successfully organized with safety measures due to the pandemic, while his support for the organization of the Olympic Games was unstoppable. The difficulties we managed to overcome, I believe, strengthened more the bonds between Greece and Japan and I want to express my gratitude and respect for the efforts he made not only to make the Games happen, but also to be particularly successful. ”The HOC President and IOC member expressed his gratitude to Japanese nation: “This is a great honor for me. It is something special, as special were the Olympic Games you organized in Tokyo. The Japanese people in extremely difficult conditions such as the ones we live, carried out the games with great success, when this mission seemed impossible to fulfill. Japan make us all proud with what that he 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 our best, in the Olympic Flame ceremonies and also sending the Greek team to Tokyo. The Tokyo Olympics have a very special place in my heart because for the first time I participated as an IOC member but also because I had the honor and pleasure of awarding the gold medal to a Greek athlete, our rower Stefanos Douskos”.
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