Makedonas

Not one of the biggest Greek sports website claiming our LW2X girls are "very close to the Olympic quota" after finishing 1st in their heat at the European Championships They did change the article after several hours to erase the evidence that they thought this race had something to do with the Olympics

Sailing (2) Byron Kokkalanis (men's IQFoil) Cameron Maramenidis (men's formula kite)

So it looks like our sailing team will go down from 8 members in Tokyo to 4 in Paris. It seems bad, but actually is not so bad when you look at it. 470 became mixed, so instead of 4 sailors we only had the chance to qualify 2, which we did (so -2 overall) RS:X became iQFoil and we still got the men's quota but not women's, after the change of categories (-3 overall) Karachaliou in ILCA 6 had a lot of drama with our sailing federation and got the quota for Portugal but won't be going to Paris regardless it seems (-4 overall) The finn is no longer an Olympic category which caused Mitakis to retire after three consecutive Olympic qualifications (-5 overall) Maramenidis got the quota in men's kite, which is +1 for us (-4 overall) Our sailing federation is lucky they can use the above as excuses for the small amount of quotas even if it still is a low point for Greek sailing. Also I sort of thought the Mixed Nacra team would have a good chance (I think they missed out by 1 spot for Tokyo but don't quote me on that, it was definitely close), especially with Papadopoulou being a bit older/more experienced now, but they still missed out by a few spots. The biggest missed opportunities though were definitely ILCA 6 (Karachaliou leaving us), and ILCA 7 (multiple good young prospects who came close but no one took a quota). Also if you include Tsortanidis instead of Kokkalanis, we have all 4 of our quota athletes being in their early 20s, so I'm optimistic that Greek sailing can rise again.

Finally we got quotas in sailing! We were in danger of missing out for the first time since 1936, after we had 8 sailors in Tokyo. Now we have 2 confirmed here, and should get another 2 in the 470 mixed. I'm happy for Maramenidis to make his Olympic debut. I'm glad we got the quota in iQFoil and Kokkalanis will go to the Olympics for the 4th time, though I am sad for Tsortanidis who I wanted to see take the quota, he is from a small island and it would've been nice to see him go to the Olympics from there, also Kokkalanis is old and had his chances for a medal in the past and didn't take them. Of course Tsortanidis also finished this regatta in a qualifying position but there's only one quota per nation. It's too bad that he has to miss out when there are other boat classes where we did not qualify anyone. And the 470 quota with Spanaki/Spanaki looks 99% confirmed. I'm happy for Spanaki, she proved her critics (aka me ) wrong after accusing her of stealing the Tokyo quota from a more deserving team (she came out of nowhere and got a 2004 Olympic gold medalist out of retirement and together they won our internal regatta over Bozi/Klonaridou who were our only competitive 470 duo from Rio 2016 until a few months before Tokyo). Also it's a shame Papadakos is 5th in the ILCA 7 and will miss Paris, after our sailing federation messed up and prevented him from getting the quota a few months ago. He is young so hopefully he can make it to LA and/or Brisbane instead.

Maria Kyridou (rowing) She didn't qualify yet, but was 5th in the women's pair in Tokyo as a 20 yo, and was planning on going to the final qualification regatta in the women's double sculls with her sister Anneta (who competed in the single scull in Tokyo). Unfortunately, Maria has a foot injury and just got surgery earlier this week. Meanwhile, Anneta since last month started training again for the single sculls while her sister has been injured.

Well things are somewhat looking better now, as Kokkalanis (and Tsortanidis although in the same event so we can only have one make it to Paris), and Spanaki/Spanakis are now in qualifying positions, in addition to Maramenidis. Really a shame we will probably miss out on the ILCA 7 quota after Papadakos won it in February at the qualification regatta we hosted, when our federation decided to hold an extra race (despite it not being necessary) and he ended up losing the quota in that last race. Also I'm not sure why Papadimitriou isn't competing here as I thought he was our best sailor in this class but generally his results were poor lately compared to Panagiotidis and Papadakos. Women's iQFoil is very disappointing but not surprising. The girls really struggled to transition from RS:X, and I really thought Divari would do better considering she qualified for Tokyo as a 20 yo. Men's 49er is disappointing too. Kagialis will miss the Olympics for the first time since London, and at his age this is probably the end for him. And ILCA 6, no words really on the Karachaliou situation, but it seems like she won't be able to compete for Portugal either.

What an absolute JOKE that we are not sending our women's 4x100 team! I really thought they had a chance of making it to the Olympics, especially given how well a few of the young girls did in the indoor season. It seems pretty clear that our SB from last year will be easily surpassed this year as long as we have no major injuries. And regardless they should've gone, it would've been a good experience for the girls and in 2028 we should have an even better chance of qualifying...

Entries for the European qualifier: https://worldrowing.com/event/2024-world-rowing-european-olympic-and-paralympic-qualification-regatta/

So far a disaster for us with Maramenidis being the only one in a qualifying place right now, though Papadakos, Panagiotidis, Kokkalanis, Papadopoulou/Paschalidis, Spanaki/Spanakis are all currently very close...

I know there were some efforts to bring diaspora Greeks together but I'm not sure what happened. I haven't heard about this in about 10 years. There were always some players with Greek origins in the NHL. I just did some research and there still are: 23 yo Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks, born in New York to Greek parents 29 yo Andreas Athanasiou of the Chicago Blackhawks, born in Toronto to a Greek father and Guyanese mother There's also Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who is a very successful player and already played for Canada so would not be eligible for Greece. However, his family does not even identify as Greek despite his surname and his father's side being from Florina (border town of and , the town has a complicated history from the Greek Civil War which I will not bore you with). Anyways I'm sure there are more Greeks from USA and Canada in lower levels of hockey who would be willing to play for the national team if needed. Hopefully an effort is made so we can be competitive.

How is this possible? Is it still unknown what happens with Karachaliou's quota, as Greece hasn't "agreed" to let her represent Portugal?

Wow, I was really expecting Filtisakou/Papamichail to take a quota here. Disappointing, though both should still get in via ranking for the individual events...

Sad for PAOK, but great for Olympiacos to advance! Especially great to do it against a horrible person like Dzeko

2024 European Youth Boxing Championships: GOLD: Panagiota Kouzilou (Women's -57 kg) SILVER: Ourania Kantzari (Women's -54 kg) BRONZE: Anna-Maria Trifylli (Women's -48 kg) Maria Georgopoulou (Women's -50 kg)