Dimitrios Avramis ( gr, Δημήτριος Αβράμης; born January 1, 1975, in

Trikala Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...

) is a retired amateur Greek Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's light heavyweight category. Dimitrios Avramis has claimed a silver medal in the 76-kg division at the

1997 Mediterranean Games The XIII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1997 Mediterranean Games, were the 13th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Bari, Italy, from 13 to 25 June 1997, where 2,956 athletes (2,166 men and 790 women) from 21 countries partici ...

Bari, Italy Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy ...

, picked up a bronze at the 1999 World Wrestling Championships in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, and later represented his nation

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

in two editions of the Olympic Games (2000 and 2004). Throughout his sporting career, Avramis trained as a member of the Greco-Roman wrestling team for Panellinios G.S. in

, under his brother and personal coach Spyridon Avramis. He managed to be Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion in Greece for 15 years in row in every age category, from 1990 to 2004: Junior (1990,1991), Teen (1992,1993), Young (1994, 1995), Men (1995,1996,1997,1998,1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004). His achievement becomes more remarkable, as he didn't lose any fight in Greece from 1990 to 2004. He won his first international medal when he was just 18 years old, at the 1993

European Wrestling Championships The European Wrestling Championships is the second oldest international wrestling competition of the modern world and the main wrestling championships in Europe. It predates World Wrestling Championships and other regional wrestling championships ...

Götzis Götzis is a town in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The Alpine Rhine valley municipality belongs to the district of Feldkirch. Population Events The town is well known for its annual hypo-combined events meeting, the so-called Hyp ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, where he picked up the silver medal in the 76-kg division. Avramis emerged himself into the international scene at the 1999 World Wrestling Championships in

, where he picked up the bronze medal in the 76-kg division over Georgia's Tarieli Melelashvili that earned him a spot on the Greek Olympic team. The following year, Avramis made his official debut at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney, where he competed in the men's middleweight division (76 kg). In the prelim pool, he pulled Armenia's Levon Geghamyan off the mat in overtime on his opening bout, but suffered a mighty throw from Sweden's

Ara Abrahamian Ara Abrahamian ( hy , Արա Աբրահամյան; born 27 July 1975) is an Armenian-Swedish wrestler in Greco-Roman wrestling. He has won two World Championships in the 76 kg and 84 kg weight classes and a silver medal at the 2004 S ...

by a 2–3 sudden death decision. Finishing the pool in second place and twelfth overall, Avramis' performance was not enough to put him through into the quarterfinals. When

welcomed the 2004 Summer Olympics in

, Avramis qualified as a member of the Greek squad in the men's 84 kg class, by obtaining an automatic bid for the host nation and placing second from the European Championships in Haparanda, Sweden. Entering the Games as a top favorite, Avramis delighted the home crowd inside the Ano Liossa Olympic Hall, as he prevailed two straight matches over Iran's Behrouz Jamshidi and Norway's Fritz Aanes in the round-robin pool to take a coveted spot for the next round. As he faced off against Russia's

Alexei Mishin Alexei Nikolayevich Mishin (russian: link=no, Алексей Николаевич Мишин; born 8 March 1941) is a Russian figure skating coach and former pair skater. With partner Tamara Moskvina, he is the 1969 World silver medalist and ...

in the quarterfinals, Avramis could not hold his tough opponent into the ring and lost the match 2–5. With his next opponent Mohamed Abdelfatah of Egypt being disqualified for protesting, Avramis was immediately awarded a spot in the fifth-place match by forfeit.

References

External links

Profile – International Wrestling Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avramis, Dimitrios 1975 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Greece Wrestlers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Greek male sport wrestlers Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Trikala World Wrestling Championships medalists Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Greece Competitors at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling 21st-century Greek people