Leonidas Sabanis ( el, Λεωνίδας Σαμπάνης, sq, Luan Shabani; born 28 October 1971), sometimes spelled Leonidas Sampanis, is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

retired

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lif ...

, born in southern

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, who represented Greece in 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. He has also been a World Champion representing Greece. He was named the 1998

Greek Male Athlete of the Year The PSAT Sports Awards (Greek: Αθλητικά Βραβεία ΠΣΑΤ) are the annual sports awards that are issued by the Panhellenic Sports Press Association (PSAT). The awards are given to the year's top performing individual athletes, in the ...

Early life and career

Sabanis was born Luan Shabani on 28 October 1971 in southern

to a

family.

Results representing Albania

At the European Championship in Athens, Greece, in 1989, Sabanis represented Albania as ''Luan Shabani'' and won a bronze (big) medal in the 56 kg category. He was the first to win a medal at a European Championship for Albania. A year later, at the European Championship in Aalborg (Denmark) in 1990, Sabanis won a silver (big) medal, and the first such medal for Albania.

Results representing Greece

Sabanis emigrated to Greece in 1991 and represented Greece starting from 1993. He won a silver medal in the 59 kg category at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, United States and in the 62 kg category in 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, Australia. Sabanis was originally awarded a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics 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 ...

, but the medal was later

stripped Stripped may refer to: Music * "Stripped" (song), by Depeche Mode, 1986 * ''Stripped'' (Christina Aguilera album) or the title song, 2002 * ''Stripped'' (Daniel Ash album), 2014 * ''Stripped'' (Macy Gray album), 2016 * ''Stripped'' (Pretty Ma ...

from him as a result of a doping scandal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabanis, Leonidas 1971 births Albanian male weightlifters Greek male weightlifters Olympic weightlifters of Greece Panathinaikos weighlifters Weightlifters at the 1996 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Greece Living people Doping cases in weightlifting Greek sportspeople in doping cases Sabanis Olympic medalists in weightlifting Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals Albanian emigrants to Greece Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games medalists in weightlifting Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games European Weightlifting Championships medalists World Weightlifting Championships medalists