FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
A photo and a birthday wish were enough to bring back into the spotlight an old debate that continues to affect Albanian sports fans.
The Instagram page pyrrospyrros, associated with weightlifting legend Pirro Dhima, published a post dedicated to former champion Leonidas Sabanis, whom it calls "a sports friend and fellow traveler for life." The text mentions his journey in Greece, his Olympic medals and his career with the Greek national team.
But what did not go unnoticed was the absence of a historical fact: Leonidas Sabanis is Luan Shabani, born in Korça, the athlete who brought Albania the first medal in the history of the European Weightlifting Championships.
The medal that entered the history of Albania
Long before he climbed the Olympic podiums with the Greek flag, Luan Shabani had already entered the history of Albanian sports.
At the 1989 European Championships, held in Athens, he won the bronze medal in the 56 kilogram category, giving Albania the first European medal in weightlifting history.
Just a year later, in Aalborg, Denmark, he improved on this success with a silver medal, again representing Albania. It was these results that paved the way for his international career.
From Korça to the top of the world
After political changes in the early 1990s, Shabani emigrated to Greece, obtained Greek citizenship and changed his name to Leonidas Sabanis.
From 1993 he competed for the Greek national team, with which he won two Olympic silver medals in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, as well as medals in world and European championships, becoming one of the most successful names in Greek weightlifting.
His career ended after the 2004 Athens Olympics, when he lost his bronze medal due to a positive doping test and was suspended for two years.
The post that sparked reactions
In the post published by Pirro Dhima's page, Sabanis is presented only as a Greek champion, while there is no mention of the name Luan Shabani or the historical medals won with Albania.
This detail has brought back the discussion about Albanian athletes who were formed in the country's sports system, but built their careers and gained international fame by representing other countries.
A story that is also related to Pirro Dhima
The parallels with Pirro Dhima are inevitable. He too left Albania in the early 1990s and became one of the greatest weightlifters in Olympic history, winning his medals with Greece.
Dhima has stated in several interviews that he considers himself "Greek born in Albania", statements that over the years have caused debates and reactions in Albanian public opinion.
A debate that never ends
The story of Luan Shabani is symbolic of a generation of athletes who left Albania in the 1990s due to a lack of conditions and support.
For Greece, Leonidas Sabanis remains an Olympic medalist and one of the most important figures in weightlifting.
For Albania, he will always be Luan Shabani, the athlete who wrote one of the most important pages in the history of Albanian sports. Perhaps precisely for this reason, a simple post on social networks was enough to revive a debate that, even after more than 30 years, continues to arouse emotions.
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