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Leonidas Sabanis

Personal information
Born	28 October 1971 (1971-10-28) (age 53) Korçë, Albania
Medal record Men's Weightlifting Representing  Albania European Championships 1989 Athens – 56 kg Representing  Greece Summer Olympics 1996 Atlanta – 59 kg 2000 Sydney – 62 kg World Championships 1995 Guangzhou – 59 kg 1998 Lahti – 62 kg 1999 Athens – 62 kg European Championships 1996 Stavanger – 59 kg 1997 Rijeka – 59 kg 1998 Riesa – 62 kg 1999 La Coruña – 62 kg 2002 Antalya – 62 kg

Leonidas Sabanis (Greek: Λεωνίδας Σαμπάνης, Albanian: Luan Shabani; born 28 October 1971), sometimes spelled Leonidas Sampanis, is a Greek retired weightlifter, born in the city of Korce, Albania. He represented Albania in the 1989 European Weightlifting Championship. He switched allegiance after the fall of Communism in Albania in 1991. He 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.

Early life and career

Sabanis was born Luan Shabani on 28 October 1971 in southern Albania to a Greek 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 in Atlanta, United States and in the 62 kg category in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Sabanis was originally awarded a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, but the medal was later stripped from him as a result of a doping scandal.

References

1. Hē doxa tou athlētismou : hē historia tou Hellēnikou athlētismou kai hoi diethneis tou epitychies. : Politismikou Organismou tou Dēmou Athēnaiōn. 2002. p. 10. ISBN 9789607401526. Retrieved 4 November 2021. Ο Λεωνίδας Σαμπάνης γεννήθηκε ανήμερα της εθνικής επετείου της 28ης Οκτωβρίου το 1971 στην Κορυτσά της Βόρειας Ηπείρου
2. ^ "ANT1-Radio". hri.org. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
3. "European Championships From 1907 to Today". Childovski.
4. "Eurolympic History of Albania". www.eurolympic.org. December 2004. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27.
5. "European Championships From 1907 to Today". Childovski.
6. "Ancient Olympia's First Female Winner Stripped of Medal". USA Today. Associated Press. August 23, 2004. Retrieved 2008-05-05.

External links

• Leonidas Sampanis at the International Weightlifting Federation}
• Leonidas Sampanis at Olympics.com
• Leonidas Sampanis at Olympedia (archive)
• Leonidas Sabanis at the Hellenic Olympic Committee

• 1971 births
• Albanian male weightlifters
• Greek male weightlifters
• Olympic weightlifters for 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
• Sportspeople from Korçë
• 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