President honors Deaflympians

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos received athletes who took part in the 23rd Deaflympics in Samsun, Turkey, in July, as well as the president of the Hellenic Federation of Sports for the Deaf, Iosif Stavrakakis, at the Presidential Mansion in Athens on Monday. The games hosted 3,000 athletes from 97 states. The first games for the deaf were held in Paris in 1924, when they were known as the International Silent Games, and hosted athletes from nine European nations. The initial idea for the games is credited to Eugene Rubens-Alcais, who also founded the French Deaf Sports Federation. [Yiannis Panagopoulos/Eurokinissi]