Olympic flag on Kilimanjaro and Everest

by Courtesy Athens 2004 on 27 Feb 2004 ATHENS 2004 Managing Director, Ioannis Spanudakis, handed today two ATHENS 2004 flags to the leaders of the double attempt to conquer the Kilimanjaro and Everest peaks, a few months before the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games.

In the small ceremony held, National Mountaineering Expedition’s leaders, Konstantinos Tsivelekas and Panagiotis Kotronaros, stressed that they aim for the ‘gold’ medal – a
'forerunner’ to the medals that the country will win during the 2004 Olympic Games.

Their aim is to get it by conquering the ‘Roof of the World’, the peak of Mt Everest, at an altitude of 8,848m.

The expedition for the planet’s highest peak will set out from Athens on 13 March, and is scheduled to have Greek mountaineers at the final (and highest) base camps by middle May, before they start their climb to the peak at the end of the same month.

‘This time, the third in a row, after the unsuccessful attempts of 1993 and 1996, we are well-prepared and organised. The Mountaineering team, which now is Greece’s national one, was made up by the best and most experienced Greek climbers, and that is why we look forward to the success of the expedition’, Mr Tsivelekas stressed.

Two teams will attempt simultaneously to climb to the peak of Mt Everest from two different directions. Six climbers will participate in each team. One team, led by Mr Tsivelekas, will start from Tibet, at the north of the planet’s highest mountain, while the other, led by Mr Kotronaros, will start from Nepal, at the south.

This most important mountaineering attempt in the history of our country, ‘Hellas – Everest 2004’, is linked directly to the Olympic year, taking place under the auspices of the Hellenic Mountaineering and Climbing Federation, and fully financed by Mr Pavlos Angelatos, a Greek resident of Canada.

‘We are very happy for your decision to carry the ATHENS 2004 flag to the planet’s highest peak. This is an extraordinary attempt, which we wish to be successful, and we hope that you will return, with the ‘gold’ medal, as you said, just before the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, demonstrating the ability of Greek athletes to excel in whatever sport they participate in’, Mr Spanudakis underlined.

It should be noted here that the members of the National Mountaineer and Climbing Team are leaving tomorrow for the peak (5,895m) of Mt Kilimanjaro, where they will also raise the ATHENS 2004 flag.

This expedition forms part of their overall preparation for climbing Mt Everest.

Hellenic Mountaineering and Climbing Federation President, Dimitris Georgoulis, together with National Mountaineering Team members Georgios Argyris, Giannis Tilios, Kostas Apostolopoulos, Petros Kapsomenakis, Panagis Alexandropoulos, Kyriakos Onisiforou, Tasia Iliopoulou, Pavlos Tsantos, Michalis Stylas, Georgios Voutyropoulos, Spyros Soulis and Antonis Antonopoulos, were also present at the ceremony held for receiving the ATHENS 2004 flag at the headquarters of the Organising Committee.

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