Greece National Thread

[Makedonas 2,155]

43 minutes ago, Yannakis said:

This number will certainly multiply. Beside you said it, we could have Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari in tennis, Evangelia Planationi and Evelina Papazoglou in artistic swimming, Theodoros Iakovidis in weightlifting, for sure Petrounias in gymnastics.

Teltsidou and Ntanatsidis will probably qualify in judo, and we have a good chance in artistic swimming for the team (in addition to the duet).

 

Chatziliadou in karate would be one of our best chances for a medal if she can qualify. Men's basketball I think is 50/50.

 

Let's not forget boxing we have a few chances with Pita and Tsanikidis mostly.

[Makedonas 2,155]

Athletics is interesting. Currently we have three in women's pole vault (Stefanidi, Kyriakopoulou, Polak), one in men's long jump (Tentoglou), women's triple jump (Papachristou), and women's 20km walk (Drisbioti).

 

If we look at the rankings/Road to Tokyo, Douvalidis, Papamichail, Anastasakis, Frantzeskakis, Filippidis, Karalis and Tsiamis will all qualify from the men. I think Baniotis, Scarvelis, and Zikos also have decent chances. Baniotis has been injured and if he's healthy he shouldn't have a problem improving his ranking. Scarvelis had a big throw last year which didn't count for the rankings of course, and Zikos has done well in 60m and needs to replicate that in 100m to improve his ranking.

 

For the women, it looks like we will get three quotas in the 20km walk (Tsinopoulou and either Filtisakou or Papadopoulou in addition to Drisbioti). Also in qualifying positions right now are Anagnostopoulou, Scarvelis, Vasiliou, Pesiridou, and Spanoudaki. Belibasaki and Tzengko will surely qualify by entry standard if healthy (they currently don't have rankings because they didn't compete in enough events). Karydi also has a really good chance, either in the triple jump or long jump or both. And I wouldn't count out Pappas in the marathon, or one of our female high jumpers (Zakka or Gusin) or Kolokytha in the long jump. Our women's 4x400 team could be very good but they never have a full squad with both Belibasaki and Vasiliou in unfortunately, and they won't compete at the world relays either.

 

There are some girls who in 2016 I thought for sure would qualify for Tokyo. Iliana Korosidou, Anastasia Marinakou, Konstantina Romaiou, Tatiana Gusin, Panagiota Dosi, Dimitra Gnafaki, Haido Alexouli. Sadly many of these girls struggled in recent years. Also last time we had three female marathon runners in Rio, but now the standard is so difficult...

 

In the end, I think our Tokyo 2020 athletics team will look something like this:

Men: Douvalidis, Papamichail, Tentoglou, Filippidis, Karalis, Anastasakis, Frantzeskakis, Scarvelis, Tsiamis...maybe Baniotis or Zikos too.

Women: Spanoudaki, Belibasaki, Vasiliou, Pesiridou, Drisbioti, Tsinopoulou, Filtisakou, Stefanidi, Polak, Kyriakopoulou, Papachristou, Tzengko, Scarvelis, Anagnostopoulou...maybe Karydi or Zakka too.

 

I don't expect the others like Kolokytha, Zikos, Pappas etc to qualify at this point but I hope I am wrong.

[Makedonas 2,155]

On 25/04/2021 at 15:51, Makedonas said:

So we now have 43 so far for Tokyo. In the next two weeks we will have diving, wrestling, and taekwondo qualification tournaments coming up.

 

I hope we can get one or two divers and I think it's possible. Wrestling we already have Prevolaraki, maybe Pilidis can make it too. In taekwondo we have four good athletes who will try to qualify. I hope 1-2 can make it. Telikostoglou has to make it, surely. Hopefully after these we will have 46-47 total.

 

Later in May we will know more about rowing, cycling (cross-country), weightlifting, and shooting. And of course swimming and athletics are ongoing. We only have 6 currently for athletics, but I think in the end we will have at least 22-23.

Well we got Pilidis yesterday in wrestling so we are up to 44 now. Telikostoglou not qualifying is a huge disappointment as he had chances for a medal in Tokyo. I hope we can get one qualification tomorrow in taekwondo (Chamalidis or Tzeli). I don't think we have a chance in wrestling unless Kesidis can surprise. We also have a lot of people competing in athletics this weekend, so hopefully we can get a few quotas or at least some good results for ranking points from our athletes.

[Makedonas 2,155]

Well we're at 47 now. Within the next week, Alexandros Papamichail's quota place will be confirmed via ranking for the men's 50km walk so we'll have 48. Hopefully we can also qualify another shooter or two from the European Championships which are going on now.

 

I'm not sure what's going on with weightlifting but I thought Iakovidis was in a good position to qualify and maybe Benteli. I think it depends on which athletes other countries nominate for Tokyo. I think weightlifting names will be announced next week.

 

Swimming I thought we would get some quotas from the European Championships which did not happen, but we got a bunch of national records and medals which is a good sign. Hopefully others will make it in the next weeks or by having the next best times.

 

Athletics it looks like Frantzeskakis is getting closer and closer to achieving the qualifying standard in the men's hammer throw. Even if he doesn't get it, I think he will make it from ranking anyways. Good for the 21 year old to be able to qualify for Tokyo. Anastasakis, Douvalidis, Karalis, Filippidis and probably Tsiamis (as well as Tentoglou and Papamichail who are already qualified) all also look like they will be able to qualify off the rankings based on their current positions and given how little time is left. I hope we can qualify some others but they'll have to do better over the next few weeks. Zikos, Scarvelis, Baniotis, Pantazis still have some chances to qualify probably.

 

On the women's side for athletics, we have five currently qualified (Stefanidi, Papachristou, Kyriakopoulou, Drisbioti, Polak). It seems like Scarvelis and Tsinopoulou will definitely make it via rankings. Then we have a bunch of women either just barely qualified by ranking or just missing out (Vasiliou, Spanoudaki, Filtisakou/Papadopoulou - only one can make it as we already will have two others in that event, Anagnostopoulou, Pesiridou). Tzengko, Belibasaki, Zakka, Korosidou all don't have rankings right now because they don't have enough events, I think the first two should definitely be in Tokyo and can even make it by standard without needing rankings. Karydi and Gousin should also have some chances to make it, and very small chances for Kolokytha and Karagianni at this point. Also I guess Pappas is no longer trying to qualify? She ran one marathon last year and did great which was her first marathon ever and then she disappeared after. Also it looks like we are not trying to send a women's 4x400 m team anymore. What a disgrace because they had a good chance to qualify and we didn't even send them to world relays.

 

The first few weeks of June I'm sure we'll see more quotas when the qualification ends for tennis, artistic swimming, judo, boxing, karate, gymnastics.

[Makedonas 2,155]

With Markos qualifying in swimming, we're now at 48. Also it looks like we will qualify in the men's and mixed medley relays, which will be confirmed tomorrow and have Meretsolias and Drakou added to the team.

 

So basically we are guaranteed 10 swimmers (8 men and 2 women). Hopefully we can add some more, either with OST or OQT and also in open water. In Beijing we had 18 swimmers (11 men and 7 women), 14 swimmers in London (8 men and 6 women), and 14 in Rio (10 men and 4 women).

 

Papamichail's quota will also become official tomorrow which will put us at 51. Not sure what is happening with weightlifting. The next two weeks will be busy with boxing, artistic swimming, karate, rhythmic gymnastics, tennis, and archery so we will gain more quotas. We just won five medals at the European Karate Championships last week so hopefully we can qualify a few athletes for Tokyo in that sport. And of course in athletics we have the national championships next weekend and hopefully some of our athletes who haven't yet qualified can achieve the standards there and won't have to worry about rankings anymore. A lot of our young/U23 and U20 athletes like Frantzeskakis, Karalis, Tzengko, Karydi, Pantazis have all been close so far.

[Makedonas 2,155]

@YannakisWe currently have 62 athletes according to wikipedia. That is including tennis, although apparently we will lose the weightlifting quota due to a doping violation. However, it seems that we will get a spot in karate after all (Eleni Chatziliadou) and judo from Ntanatsidis and Teltsidou. So that's 64 athletes.

 

Douvalidis, Filippidis, Karalis, Anastasakis, Frantzeskakis, Spanoudaki, S.Scarvelis, Tsinopoulou, and Filtisakou all look 95% certain to qualify via ranking in athletics, so that would bring the total up to 73.

 

We still have Petrounias, basketball, beach volleyball, and open water swimming. Also hoping for some others in athletics. Pesiridou, Anagnostopoulou, and Tsiamis are currently in qualifying positions but I'm not sure if they can hold onto their rankings. Baniotis, N.Scarvelis, Vasiliou, Zakka, Gousin all still trying to make it via ranking but I'm not sure how likely it is. Maybe we can get some OST in swimming too. Also I think Pantazis, Tzengko, and Karydi have chances in athletics to make it if they reach the entry standards. Especially the latter two. Tzengko's PB is 63.96 and the standard is 64.00. Karydi's is 14.19 and the standard is 14.32. Both girls are super young (Tzengko born 2002 and Karydi born 2001) so they should improve these but they are also running out of time.

 

Unfortunately it seems we will miss out in weightlifting for the first time since 1964, rhythmic gymnastics for the first time since 1984, and archery for the first time since 1996.

 

There were definitely some surprises. Who could've predicted two years ago that Araouzou and Belibasaki would miss out?! Also we had 10 rowers in London and Rio, only 4 here (no Asoumanaki/Nikolaidou who got 4th in Rio as the youngest team in the event, both are injured). We had 9 or more gymnasts at every Olympics since 1996 I think, and so far we have zero qualified. 

 

Also we had some young athletes in Rio that I thought would continue to improve and qualify for Tokyo again, such as Kontochristopoulou in fencing, N.Scarvelis, Pappas, and Alexouli in athletics, Filiou in rhythmic gymnastics, a bunch of the rowers, Dimitriou in swimming...some of them either declined or retired. In Pappas' case, she changed events to the marathon and started doing well and then disappeared after covid. Maybe she got pregnant?

[Makedonas 2,155]

Our team now has 69 athletes (including Filtisakou and Tsinopoulou who haven't officially qualified but there are no more competitions in the women's 20km walk so I guess their ranking places are secured).

 

In athletics it looks like Douvalidis, Anastasakis, Filippidis, Karalis, S.Scarvelis, Spanoudaki, Pesiridou, and Anagnostopoulou will all get in. Frantzeskakis and Tsiamis also will probably get in but it's still unclear. Tzengko has some chances too. Disappointing that some like N.Scarvelis, Baniotis, Vasiliou, Karydi will all not qualify, plus obviously Belibasaki who has been injured for most of the last two years. Scarvelis threw over 21m last year but of course it didn't count for the ranking, and this year he hasn't been in form. Baniotis I never thought wouldn't make it after he won silver at the 2019 European indoors but injuries + age have caught up to him. Vasiliou looked great in the winter season but hasn't done well enough outdoors this year unfortunately. Really a shame especially since she DNS in the final of the 2019 national championships where she definitely would've won gold which would've given her the additional 100 placement points and she would've probably qualified for Tokyo via ranking. Still she needed to do better this outdoor season and she didn't. And Karydi's ranking will be well within the top 32 but more than 32 athletes achieved the standard in her event and she came close but couldn't do it. It's disappointing but she's only 20 so I'm sure we'll see her in Paris.

 

We also might get another 1-2 in swimming with OST just like in 2016 when we got Dimitriou and Vourna in that way. So we'll see.

 

And you never know, maybe the men's basketball team will surprise us and manage to qualify somehow. If not, then our team will probably have about 78-82 members or so in the end. Our smallest since Barcelona 1992 but it's a very young team so hopefully in Paris we can go back to having 100+.

[Makedonas 2,155]

@maestro @George_D @Yannakis

 

Great start for our young athletes so far at the European U23 Championships in athletics and at the World U23 Championships in rowing. I am very impressed with some of the performances so far, and the next few days should be quite exciting.

 

Also our men's U15 water polo team is currently in the semifinals of the European Championships. They already beat Serbia and Italy. Hopefully all of this success we had in youth tournaments in recent years will eventually happen in the men's category too. However I am a little cautious after how well our girls did from 2012 to 2015 or so, and so far all we got from them was a silver medal at the 2018 European Championships at the women's level.

[maestro 653]

11 minutes ago, Makedonas said:

@maestro @George_D @Yannakis

 

Great start for our young athletes so far at the European U23 Championships in athletics and at the World U23 Championships in rowing. I am very impressed with some of the performances so far, and the next few days should be quite exciting.

 

Also our men's U15 water polo team is currently in the semifinals of the European Championships. They already beat Serbia and Italy. Hopefully all of this success we had in youth tournaments in recent years will eventually happen in the men's category too. However I am a little cautious after how well our girls did from 2012 to 2015 or so, and so far all we got from them was a silver medal at the 2018 European Championships at the women's level.

I think in age group championships learning and gaining experience from a major competition is more important than winning a medal. That's why I'm not so disappointed with our 4th place in the recent girls under15 european championships in water polo. If we can use this experience to learn, we can have the same or better results in senior category. Because as you mentioned, it's not easy to 'translate' success in junior category to success in men's or women's top level.

 

That said, I'll be watching the athletics in Tallinn with great interest. We have some promising athletes competing there.   

[Makedonas 2,155]

26 minutes ago, maestro said:

I think in age group championships learning and gaining experience from a major competition is more important than winning a medal. That's why I'm not so disappointed with our 4th place in the recent girls under15 european championships in water polo. If we can use this experience to learn, we can have the same or better results in senior category. Because as you mentioned, it's not easy to 'translate' success in junior category to success in men's or women's top level.

 

That said, I'll be watching the athletics in Tallinn with great interest. We have some promising athletes competing there.   

I agree. Unfortunately sometimes we fall into a trap of getting excited too soon. Like I said look at our women's water polo team which won so much at the junior levels and I thought they would be doing much better as women by now (though they somehow are able to do better on the club teams than with the national team). And of course in rowing for many years now we win so many medals at these competitions but for various reasons don't do the same at the senior level.

 

I also think sometimes it is better to have a few good players per year and not do so well than a whole team that wins everything. This is why I think our women's basketball team has a great chance to qualify for Paris 2024. We didn't have any great results with the youth teams, but every few years there are some good players and I think in the end when they are all older they will be good together. We saw it first with Spanou and Stamolamprou. Then with Fasoula/Christinaki/Pavlopoulou, then Tsineke, and now the new talents seem to be Chatzileonti and Bosgana. Right now they're a bit too young but I think with some more experience in a few years they can push to make it to Paris. We will see.

 

Good to see Mouzenidis get bronze today even though I thought he would be throwing better by now. In 2018 his PB was 19.46 and now three years later it is 19.92. I know he had injuries but really hoping in the next years he can do a lot better. He will have to improve a lot in order to make it to Paris but I think he can do it. There seems to be a very good team in Nea Kallikrateia so I am not too worried about him.

 

Tomorrow we have three good chances for medals with Karydi, Frantzeskakis, and Filtisakou. Karydi is consistently jumping over 14m now, and Filtisakou really impressed me with her improvement this year. If anything I expected Fiaska to make the Olympics before her.