ATHENS – President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopios Pavlopoulos on Monday received the President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach at the presidential mansion.

Pavlopoulos welcomed Bach and thanked him for his major contribution to bringing the Olympic Games, the Olympic Movement and Olympic Ideal closer and closer to their roots, and to the principles and values of Olympism. “It is a huge achievement in the current times,” the President Pavlopoulos noted.

He also thanked Bach for his proposal to once again appoint a Greek representative to the IOC and the decision to hold the 2021 IOC Session in Athens.

“ Greece has been linked from the very start with the Olympic Games and with the International Olympic Committee. The conclusion of the issue leads to a ’normalisation’ of the situation that had arisen and this was again your achievement, which resolves the matter in the best and most consensual manner.”

Pavlopoulos also announced the Greek state’s intention to award Bach the Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix, noting that this was the highest medal awarded by the presidency.

On his part, Bach thanked Pavlopoulos for his warm hospitality and reception at a very difficult time. “We deeply appreciate your generosity, which is very touching and gives us the opportunity to thank you, Greece and the Greeks for this great legacy that you have bequeathed to humanity, Olympism and the Olympic Games.

“We express our pleasure over the fact that there is a Greek candidate for the Olympic Committee and I believe that all the members of the Committee will elect him with a vast majority,” he said.