Leonidas I

Leonidas Pelekanakis reportedly had no other health problems

Greek Olympic sailing champion Leonidas Pelekanakis died of Covid-19 on Thursday, aged 58, after an almost two-month battle with the illness.

The athlete did not have any underlying health issues and had been taking part in open sea sailing events until October 2020.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) decided to suspend the remainder of the Olympic Torch relay through the country to avoid attracting crowds because of coronavirus, it said on Friday.

But HOC said the opening leg of the relay in the southern Peloponnese town of Sparta attracted an "unexpectedly large crowd," forcing it to suspend the remaining stops.

Hollywood actor Gerard Butler, who played the role of King Leonidas of Sparta in the movie "300," will be in the Peloponnesian for events marking the 2,500-year anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae, the city's honorary ambassador Roi Danali-Apostolopoulou confirmed.

Scottish actor Gerard Butler will be in Sparta on March 14 to run as a torchbearer for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, a local mayor said Thursday.

Speaking to state-run broadcaster ERT, Petros Doukas said the actor will also be in the city in June to attend the celebrations for the 2,500 years of the Battle of Thermopylae.

Japanese runner Yoshihiko Ishikawa was the winner of the 36th Spartathlon, one of the most challenging and historical ultra-marathon races in the world, hosted in Greece.

Leonidas Fragkiadakis, the chief executive of National Bank of Greece, tendered his resignation on Friday, on the eve of the release of the Greek lenders' stress test results.

Lithuanian runner Aleksandr Sorokin won the 35th edition of Spartathlon, one of the most challenging and historical ultra-marathon races, in Sparta on Saturday.

Sorokin, 36, touched the feet of the statue of ancient Spartan King Leonidas in the center of Sparta before dawn around 5.00 am local time, covering non stop 246 kilometers from Athens in 22 hours, 4 minutes and 5 seconds.

BY MARIANNA KAKAOUNAKI

The trial of Golden Dawn leadership and members resumes Monday in Athens after a summer recess with more testimonies of witnesses to the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas.

Fyssas was stabbed to death to murder by Golden Dawn member Giorgos Roupakias in a suburb of Piraeus in September 2013.