DIMAS - Part One - The Lion (Cub) of Himara

[@gsav2504]

I had the great luck and honor to play with Piros Dimas at 85kg at weight lifting - Competition in Athens (Milona-Stadium) back in 1995. He was first and i was 10th. I cannot forget that day!!!!

[@DavidBoffa]

Awesome! That's an amazing experience

[@JorgeBordam1]

Thank you for this!!! But, can I suggest one thing? Is it possible that when Pyrros is talking instead of a verbal translation we can have subtitles? I think hearing the man's voice would be great. Since we never hear him speak. Thanks!

[@DavidBoffa]

Thank you for the feedback! In the next video there should be a couple segments where he speaks in english, so that will certainly give you a chance to hear him. We can also leave in some more lead in/out portions of him speaking Greek.

[@joestein1446]

you guys are amazing for giving us this!

[@ChristianBosse]

What an awesome documentary, thanks for that! Can't wait for part 2... Pyrros Dimas is a hero, unforgotten how he bounced back in Sydney 2000.

[@TractorRun]

This is great! Can't wait for Part 2.

[@andyscrumifi]

Stellar. Thanks two doctors and the producing team.

[@AgirAtlet]

Very nicely done. This is excellent. Congrats to Debbie and the Doctors. Looking forward to the rest.

[@TheCvac]

Really high quality stuff,very well done

[@AliCanTUNCER8]

This guy is a legend.

[@gikaradi8793]

Pyrros .The hero that as long hes in the same bar with me he'll never have to pay for his drinks

[@88usa]

Hey David, great series. Great editing and commentary. I've watched it many times when out on the road flying. Now maybe see if you can do a whole series on Yuri V - the idol from my half generation below Dimas.

[@DavidBoffa]

Thank you! And yes, we would *love* to do Yuri. We're working on it!

[@88usa]

I think that Yuri's background would be really interesting. Theoretically he could have won at 75k in 76, 82.5 in 84, and 82.5 in 88 although in 88 they had Arsamakov and it would have been tough. anyway, keep up the great work. it's very professionally done. and BTW this is Mark Kappes. Hope you are still training. Saw that Rito's wife just had a baby. Maybe in 7 years his kid will be climbing trees looking for fruit. ;)

[@DavidBoffa]

Yeah, Yuri was legendary. Hopefully we can make something happen! And it's great to hear from you. I am still training, although definitely not like I once was. But I still have fun and love being around weightlifters. As for Rito's kid, he's got the genetics! Thanks again!

[@ThubanDeneb]

GREAT! GREAT! GREAT! GREAT! GREAT! GREAT! THANK YOU!

[@umeshkhanna]

thanks a lot for this video.

[@DavidBoffa]

thanks!

[@powmongo]

This is excellent. Thankyou.

[@carlosaraujo1327]

amazing indeed..such a great job you did by compyling all this information...congratulations...if you like weightlifting you must see it..

[@DavidBoffa]

thanks!

[@zaazaa62]

great video! absolutely love this sport!

[@thatmountain]

man i love this. great work.

[@ΕΛΛΑΣ-ε6δ]

Every time he was saying FOR GREECE 🇬🇷🇬🇷☦🇬🇷🇬🇷 ΛΕΥΤΕΡΙΆ ΣΤΗΝ ΒΌΡΕΙΑ ΉΠΕΙΡΟ ΜΑΣ

[@oshiotomakan6900]

Ellas zei !!!

[@JiraTicket-zz6bh]

It means something like: "Freedom to North Epirus". Epirus is the west part between Northern Greece and Southern Albania. Both countries claim it, both are wrong. But it is what it is.

[@TypowyFitnesiak]

Superb! Thanks a lot for this vid

[@DavidBoffa]

you're welcome! glad you enjoyed it.

[@daviddoerksen470]

Whats wrong with subtitles? Dubbing is kinda cheesy, it takes away from the authenticity. Otherwise, very well done!

[@grafiksudd]

Wow this is really good stuff!

[@krunalparmar1578]

So helpful and inspiring. Thanks :)

[@DavidBoffa]

thank you!

[@blblblblbl395]

9:14 The area where Pyrros Dimas was born was never part of Greece. This is one of the inaccuracies they teach in Greek schools. The area was indeed autonomous for a bit in the eve of WW1, but never under the jurisdiction of Greece. Albania declared independence in 1912, and it was recognized in 1913 by the Great Powers in the Conference of London, with almost exactly the same borders as now. Greece just didn't recognize Albania because they wanted to invade southern Albania (which has a Greek minority, but its main demographic group were/are still the Albanians). Eventually Greece recognized Albania's sovereignty in the 1920s. Then Dimas says how it was difficult to be a Greek in Albania, after he said that his father had a very good job in the middle of Tirana. A bit contradicting. In order to live in Tirana you needed to have the regime's trust, especially if you came from villages like Himara. It means that Dimas' father was probably and conveniently identifying himself as an Albanian, because Himara was not recognized as a minority area. There are many people with the same name (just spelled Dhima in Albanian) who are Albanians, but it is true that anyone has the right of self-identification. The regime was indeed strict, but it was so for everyone. Just as a comparison, the Albanians of Greece all live in Albania (or everywhere in the world) right now. They were all expelled from Greece in 1945. If Dimas would let go of political nonsenses, he'd be equally loved in Albania. After all, that is the country where he grew up, that recognized his talents and helped him evolve into one of the greatest sportsmen ever.

[@apmoy70]

Pure, smelly, fresh, excrement of the bovine species. Spare us with your nationalist nonsence and leave, this is not the place to spew out imaginary stories

[@oshiotomakan6900]

Turko - albanian... you came from the back of the Caucasus. Nowadays Armenia / Azerbaijan. Greeks where living in this area more than 7000 years. Even today your so called country has Greek city names. Stick with your own Caucasus 'history'.

[@Bioshocker256]

Beautiful, inspirational, exceptional :D

[@DavidBoffa]

thank you!

[@NikephorosPhokas]

Is there a way to watch this with Greek audio and no dubbing?

[@DavidBoffa]

Right now there is not a version with Greek audio only, however it's a possibility if there are enough people interested (i.e., Greek speakers). If so, contact me directly and I will see about making a version without the voiceover.

[@giorgosvarvi697]

David Boffa I'm interested!

[@Theo-ul8qm]

Whatever we might say in youtube comments, the man's singlet read 'Greece' at every Olympic games he competed in. He even yelled out 'For Greece' while he was lifting, so it's quite obvious which country his loyalties are with.

[@ortodoc1868]

Especially when he lies about Humara being part of Greece..mercenary..

[@mevlanisufi2100]

So what was the name of his coach and mentor in those early days? It seems like he owes to him much of his success, yet his name is not mentioned.

[@xonilatifi7955]

Qa ki me bo vlla , ky dhe plot na kan tradhtuar se vendi yjne dhe kjo pom dhemb per pse ska mujt me garu se disa garusë prej Shqiperise per vendin e vet! Pirro Dima, Viktor Mitro , Luan Shabani , Mirela Manjani dhe Leonidas Koka dhe tjer kan fituar medalet te fqinj te Greqise sot ato ishin per ne , por prap se prap historia nuk shuhet dhe ne te ardhmen kjo dot te ndryshohet! Por shyqyr qe Vajzat nga Kosova dhe trimat nga Kosova dhe Maqedonia kan fituar medaljet te arta per Shqiperine edhe qe jon jasht trojet Shqiptare me ne fund Shqiptaret gjith kan dhe jon sportistet te artë ❤️🇦🇱🇽🇰🥰

[@Cybereagle4122]

Zef Kovaci

[@peterlampropoulos3505]

Heroes are brought up with the hero culture of the ancient world

[@HamdiVid]

dude you have a great voice

[@johntogher7356]

brilliant!

[@xmaten13]

Where can I get this greek styled font like "DIMAS" at the beginning?

[@DavidBoffa]

It's called "Lithos" and should be available for download online (if you don't have it already on your system).

[@gezimbilali1110]

Up you arse

[@mickeymouse1697]

LEGEND

[@pelopidasalexis6943]

For the Uneducated people out there.. Pyrrhus ( Ancient Greek: Πύρρος, Pyrrhos; 319/318-272 BC) was a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic period. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house (from c. 297 BC) and later he became king of Epirus (r. 306-302, 297-272 BC). He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. Some of his battles, though successful, caused him heavy losses, from which the term Pyrrhic victory was coined. He is the subject of one of Plutarch's Parallel Lives. PYRROS DIMAS was born in 1971 in Himara, southern Albania (Northern Epirus), to ethnic Greek parents. So he is Greek straight from wikipedia!! Everything else is BULLSHIT FROM ALBANIANS WHO WISH HE WAS ALBANIAN... BUT I AM SORRY ...HE IS NOT...HE IS GREEK! END OF DISCUSSION!!

[@gezimbilali1110]

Hahaha uneducated people wow. who wrote history in Wikipedia Greeks, pirro king of epiri I eperm molossians iliricum pellasg epirus you can tell 2300 years ago that molossians are ancient Greek tribe hahahaha very funny I know you greeks flurish in philosophy brilliant in melodrama history democracy histerical very open minded to orgies as well..lot of tribes in that region might have spoke wrote Greek or bilingual in Greek doesn't make those tribes Greek . Ancient Greece was like Roman empire of latin ..as for pirro dhima not a single one wants him claim or even knows him he could be a greek minority or shqiptar pretending to be one we don't care we trained him well we have produced world class weightlifters for small country and we still do.,much better than him,what we don't have is last stage where chemistry and money gets involved good lab.. dhimas competed for Albania Shqiperia and he wasn't good enough still a good prospect ready for next stage greece other hand was mini boom joined EU mid 80 so economically was much better thanks to Germany as always so invested in dhima or (i dhim ne brege) with lot 💰 laboratories doctors steroids cheating just like all weightlifters do ok and still cheat as we speak in cycling running.as for himara in middle of laberia region for dhima to say is Greek village it's disgusting.I pray to God that he forgets our beautiful language he has no principles hope are fuckin educated now

[@goldeneagle4491]

Let me teach you some history.First of all nowadays Greeks have nothing to do with ancient Greeks.Modern Greeks DNA is more similar to the Turks or Arabs rather than ancient Greeks.Modern Greek history is a myth as ancient one to, is a myth.Greeks originate from Pelasgians (not nowadays Greeks) the ancient ones.After Pelasgians dissapeared from history some tribes survived.Both Albanians and Greeks were Pagans.Albanias (then Illyrians are older than Greeks) in those territories.As for Himara let them dream about it Himara never was Greek and never will be.Greek goverment nowadays does everything possible by paying them giving them benefits and pensions to declare themselves as Greeks so they can claim territories or minority in Albania.Greeks think that half of the world belongs to them because once Alexander the Great once conquered those territories.By the way Alexander's mother was Illyrian Princess.Greece is free nowadays because of Arvanites(Hellenized Albanians) they were front warriors against the Turks.None of Greece's gold medal winners is Greek Kakhiashvili(Georgian) Luan Shabani (Albanian) Mirela Manjani (Albanian) and many others. If Pyrros wasn't weightlifter he probably would be a random "Albanian" builder in Greece.If someone is succesful in Greece they claim a Greek origin about him, if not he is just a random Albanian for them.I can go on and on about history I can wright you books.Pyrros made money for himself and gave fame to Greece but as a person he is an arsehole.GREAT athlete tho.A person who refuses to thank the country that feed him and made him athlete.He can talk bad about the regime not for Albania.

[@hunter9306]

Pirro is Shqiptar.

[@oshiotomakan6900]

@@goldeneagle4491 Muahahhah... albanians came from the back of the Caucasus ! You came with the turks in 1453. You are not Yllyrian.. you are not Pelasgian. Stick with your Caucasus 'history'.

[@Cybereagle4122]

Dhima is a surname commonly carried by Albanians. Pirro Dhima also spoke better Albanian than Greek growing up lol

[@panteliscy21]

guys is there a part 2?

[@DavidBoffa]

Yes, we're working on it now. It will be out as soon as it's ready!

[@agou1980]

Great!

[@jordangroff8978]

Yeah vardanian is probably the strongest 82.5-85 lifter ever ...I'm surprised he didn't win more Olympics

[@DavidBoffa]

Unfortunately the 1984 boycott of the LA Games meant he couldn't win there.

[@smolboyi]

no luck, every action leads to equal and opposite reaction, God blessed him

[@ernesthamitaj3449]

Albania 🇦🇱

[@lukaskintidis4504]

Would. Be better with siubtitles so we can. Hear him speak

[@ΕΛΛΑΣ-ε6δ]

Ορεα σημαία αδερφέ, λευτεριά στην Βόρεια Ήπειρο 🇬🇷

[@wojak91]

xaxaxa he got a classic Greek gyros belly now!

[@evangelosgkanas3609]

unfortunatelly, this is the fate of old athletes when they end their professional carrer...

[@wojak91]

ισως για τους ελληνες αθλητες! οταν βλεπω τον Πυρρο τωρα, λεω αν καθοταν σε καφενειο με μπυριτσα και σουβλακι δεν θα επαιρνε χαμπαρι κανενας!

[@NickCent]

SourGrapes, κοιτα τα ποδια του τυφλε!

[@wojak91]

τι εννοεις? ακομα χοντρουλης μου φαινεται...

[@thanosmantafounis4337]

Thats totally OK.

[@punkturtlefly]

strange question but how tall is Dimas?

[@DavidBoffa]

Probably like 5'7 or 5'8", give or take.

[@angelophilippopoulos9678]

He is 100 percent ethnically Greek .I don't understand why Albanians love spread propaganda. That's like saying Suleymanoglu is Bulgarian. He is Turkish.

[@xonilatifi7955]

You should know that he has also Albanian roots as he was raised in Tirana you know nothing and actually he amitted in the Albanian national TV that he is an Tironc an Tirana local so be quiet you dic*head !

[@Kbcqw]

Im albanian, i dont care what he is... take him lol. Im from an area not very far from the place he is from, i can say that yes there are minority greeks living there.

[@jedibjj5488]

These Albanians are on every Greek speading lies.

[@bnretwarner579]

fun

[@ermalpula]

This dude spoke - still speaks Albanian with a Tiranan dialect.. you can easily pinpoint that dialect from those in southern Albania - so that tells me he grew up in or near the capital. not saying he is not of Greek minority parents, but at the time he left during the transition period, where the country was in absolute shambles, anyone could have made up some bogus story just to make it.. want me to be Greek or whatever, sure!! Who gives a 💩.. I would have done the exact same thing.. but remember, he did compete for Albania after communism.. if he was shit, trust me, Greece would have wanted nothing to do with him. Anyways.. in the end of it all, he is a living legend..

[@osiris3yhn]

Same age as de la Hoya and de la Hoya looks ten times better

[@kioftor]

2:45 luck is no excuse.

[@TheGreekDream43]

Of course my friend a little bit of luck is always needed

[@MKokalari]

Pirro Dhima lived for most his youth in Tirana, Albania. My city. Same neighborhood. That is where he became a weightlifter under the direction of Zef Kovaci. Forget about Himara, southern Albania . His Albanian is street Tirana dialect not southern Albania. That was his first language. His family hails from Progonat, Albania and moved to Himara in 1920. It does not get more Albanian than that. I remember as a child back in 1991 he was an up and coming (then Albanian) weightlifter. We did not even know that he was Greek. In fact when we heard that he claimed that he was Greek we started thinking "he is pulling the leg" of his sponsors which occurred quite often at the time such as his team mate Luan Shabani aka "Leonidas Sabanis". But it's all good. He can do whatever he wants just don't soil the country that made him a successful weightlifter in the first place. He became successful as an Albanian weightlifter but achieved glory for Greece. People forget that.

[@ΑρχέγονοςΕλλάςΉπειρος]

He, as his ancestors, is Greek, and achieved those extremely performances with his country flag on the chest. There is no doubt about the Greek ethnicity of Himariotes & the rest northern epirotes.

[@MKokalari]

@@ΑρχέγονοςΕλλάςΉπειρος Of course. You should ask Edi Rama how he feels since he comes from that area too. Listen to their songs and customs and tell me if they are in Albanian or Greek. Songs tell how their heart beats. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnfLaIN4rZVgjMk kzbin.info/www/bejne/en2ciXSBfrJqh6c kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIfWYXuio9iNm6s kzbin.info/www/bejne/n327amCKZZWDbs0 kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2TLlYykaJWBZ5I

[@ΑρχέγονοςΕλλάςΉπειρος]

@@MKokalari So what? There are plenty of polyphonic songs in Greek, too. Is that some kind of clever argument? It's absolutely normal to exist interaction between Greek & albania community of the region since they have been living together for over half a century. Edi's Rama grandmother (surn. Nousi) did not even know Albanian at all. The mother tongue of indigenous Himariotes is Greek.

[@MKokalari]

@@ΑρχέγονοςΕλλάςΉπειρος It is a clever argument. Of course Albanian and greek communities have lived together for more than 7 centuries in the Peloponese but to this day the Arvanites sing in Albanian. They don't sing in Greek. In Himara they speak Greek sometime but they mourn their dead in Albanian. Take that to your history professor.

[@jedibjj5488]

You know lots ethentic Greeks lived in south Albania my family came from there whole off Albania use to be Greek before Albanian settlers.

[@itsmateoskillz7829]

Nicee

[@marcolottito4923]

His real name is Pirro Dhima...Albanian from Himara..

[@ΕΛΛΑΣ-ε6δ]

His name is Greek and Pyrros comes from the Greek king of Epirus. LEARN HISTORY

[@marcolottito4923]

@@ΕΛΛΑΣ-ε6δ yes baby...Pirro is king of epirus who fight with Roman's with elefants...and go learn the real history..Epirus. is ilyrian tribe..not Helen...I grow up in Rome ..I'm albanian from EPIRUS...

[@Cybereagle4122]

@@ΕΛΛΑΣ-ε6δ he’s an Albanian who hellenized. Many such cases

[@jedibjj5488]

​@@ΕΛΛΑΣ-ε6δAlbanian weados

[@sabertoothwallaby2937]

They published only what they wanted to publish..governments always

[@bobbobi7485]

First, you do not know the history of Albania well sir ... read before you speak and do not take into account the words Dhimes (Dimas) ok ... Second, Dhima (Dimas) was made by that country (Albania) those coaches who this Dhima (Dimas) did not even mention them without a point of shame .. This is Dhima (Dimas) who for fame and money denies his own mother ... And once again read the history of Albania, before you speak .. Do not take them based on the words of this dislike Dhima (Dimas) ...

[@toumpa7r-s50]

He is a greek like the guy that albanian police killed him....

[@Cybereagle4122]

@@toumpa7r-s50 he’s an Albanian who hellenized. His coach is Albanian (Zef Kovaci)

[@toumpa7r-s50]

@@Cybereagle4122 the most important is that he fight for Greece.... doesn't matter even if he is from Nigeria...

[@mariodopa3318]

what greek he is albanian

[@ΕΛΛΑΣ-ε6δ]

He is Greek from NORTH EPIRUS. 🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷 Learn before speak

[@mariodopa3318]

@@ΕΛΛΑΣ-ε6δ also adetokoumpo is greek? hahahahah

[@GSP199]

@@mariodopa3318 Antetokounmpo is a Nigerian born in Greece and a Greek citizen. Dimas is a Greek born in Northern Epirus. It's simple. Calling him Albanian is an insult.

[@GSP199]

Antetokounmpo is called Greek because Greece is his home country. Just like Zlatan Ibrahimovic is Swedish, his home country is Sweden even though his parents are Bosnian-Croatian.

[@mariodopa3318]

@@GSP199 Lot of olympic champions you have are albanians.

[@theylivewesee1674]

I know some will take this personally but the funny thing is that Ilya Ilyin could get 4 gold in olympics he is only 28 but he will be known as cheater for doping and lose the shot at 2016 olympics and Dimas who also doped the entire time is weightlifting golden boy never got busted always clean and that not right to Ilyin

[@cadojccccgghhv4623]

Albanian Parents no Greek !

[@jedibjj5488]

No

[@tomorrshpiragu4009]

Pirro dhima hi my say wat hi had to say but wen dhima wen to greece hi was power and hi had to change the stories because the fame wich hi have in greece.But deep in his heart hi know wat his regrets are because more older hi get more regrets hi got

[@h3llpro]

@David Boffa my man,sorry to bring you down but he is ethnically 1000% albanian.It's an unfortunate story between greece and albania regarding territories,on which greece had the upper hand and bribed/persuaded dishonestly many albanians to convert them to greeks.He is just a victim of his grand-grand father who accepted the offer for a better life.The best argument I can bring is his albanian facial characteristics,NO greek looks like that and the only ones that do are simply albanians claiming they are greek!If you wanna learn more I promise you I get your jaws droped in a couple of minutes,hit me up if you wanna get surprised!

[@DavidBoffa]

1) who cares? 2) the only people who care are pedants with an extremely narrow and limited view of things like nationality and ethnicity, which-in reality-are incredibly fluid and shifting things.

[@h3llpro]

well... you got an interview from such a 'pendant' then!that's what Iam stating.

[@DavidBoffa]

I will gladly let him (or anyone) identify with the country of their choosing, independent of their origins. I'm not an expert on anyone's family history.

[@gezimbilali1110]

We don't him or anything to do with him he has no principles

[@sbarros78]

And you are 1000% Malakas

[@gikaradi8793]

Pyrros .The hero that as long hes in the same bar with me he'll never has to pay for his drinks