In a series of New Year's messages posted on Twitter, Capralos also conceded that they "could have done more" to help Greek athletes in 2017.

Capralos won an initial HOC vote for a third four-year term in office in February before the Greek Supreme Administrative Court ruled soon after, however, than the result was void due to the absence of his sole opponent Isidoros Kouvelos.

Kouvelos had been taken to hospital on the morning of the vote in Athens and was consequently unable to participate.

After months of disputes between the two competing factions, the deadlock was broken in October when Kouvelos withdrew his candidacy.

Capralos then received the unanimous backing of all delegates present. 

"Last year the @HellenicOlympic went through a crisis regarding our elections," Capralos tweeted.

"It finally got resolved but we paid a heavy price. 

"We did stage the Lighting and the Handover of the @OlympicFlame, but we could have done more to help our athletes.

"Next year will be challenging for the Olympic movement, as it resolves the matter of the participation of the Russian athletes in the coming Winter #Olympics."

Another consequence of last year's fallout is that Greece still does not have an active International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, despite being the Olympics' founding nation. 

Capralos, who would be one contender to be proposed for membership, also praised the IOC and leading Greek athletes such as gymnast Eleftherios Petrounias and pole vaulter Ekaterini Stefanidi for converting Olympic titles into World Championship gold medals in 2017. 

"To all athletes, Greek and international, I would like to wish to them good health for 2018," Capralos wrote.

"Thanks to the IOC we provided scholarships to Greek athletes in their effort to qualify for the 2018 @Olympics. 

"We have managed to support their training outside Greece, where the weather conditions allow them to train properly and have a few of them qualify for #PyeongChang2018

"There many more athletes who excelled in international competition."

Capralos, also a European Olympic Committees Executive Board member, added: "I am very optimistic about the future of Greek sports, despite the fact that we suffer from lack of state financing.

"Greek athletes like @Petrounias_E and @KatStefanidi, both gold medal winners in Rio, managed to stay at the top of their sport in their respective disciplines in the Gymnastics and Athletics World Championships. 

"As a former Olympian, I know how hard this is.

"Next year I will be  focusing on the corporate sponsorship program [sic] “Adopt an Athlete on the Road to @Tokyo2020.” 

"A similar program [sic] before #Rio2016 was proven immensely successful."