Makedonas

2024 European Rowing U19 Championships Gold: Nikolaos Cholopoulos and Konstantinos Giannoulis (men's double sculls) Gavriela Lioliou and Varvara Lykomitrou (women's double sculls) Panagiotis Makrygiannis (men's single sculls) Silver: Konstantinos Karagiannis and Dimitrios Koutras (men's pair)

Spanoulis says Giannis Antetokounmpo will play for Greece in the qualifying tournament. I'll believe it when I see it...

I understand for Alcaraz but why not Sorribes playing three events? It's not like she is a top player and expected to go deep the way Alcaraz is.

Well we won gold in all three of those, so I guess I can't be surprised Also a silver in JM2- Disappointing 4th in JW2- especially since both girls had experience and won medals before... I am glad to see that a lot of our athletes who won medals here are tall also, especially as the lightweight category (which we usually do well in) is being removed from the Olympic programme, it's good to see that we still have some future hopes that can compete in the open weights in the future. Also I think only 3 countries won gold medals here: , and honestly the Romanian national anthem will probably be stuck in my head for the next few days because we heard it so much today @zob79

Yes I think (Swiatek/Hurkacz), (Siegemund/Zverev) will be the main favourites for the medals but also (Sakkari/Tsitsipas) as well. We do not know about other teams, for example (Paolini/Sinner), or (Sorribes Tormo/Alcaraz), but I don't think these teams have ever played together and probably the men might not want to play mixed in addition to singles and men's doubles? Both of them are already injury prone as it is. As you said though, really anyone in the mixed draw can win a medal as it is only 16 teams so all of them will be good teams.

I can do for other events later, sorry I have been kind of keeping these lists to myself the last few months. Obviously as a Greek women's doubles has been my main focus as I already know what our qualification status is for men's singles and women's singles, and men's doubles I think we are far out but if the Tsitsipas brothers win their first round at Roland Garros, which they got a good draw for, then it will get interesting so I'll start to look more.

Yes, Rus is her only chance to go to the Olympics, as she can't compete in mixed doubles without competing in women's doubles, and mixed doubles is really where she has a chance to win a medal.

Based on my calculations she is last in currently, but I'm sure there will be a few withdrawals. She could still miss out though especially if those around her do well in ITFs/125Ks next week (Cristian, Sherif, Golubic, Osorio, Schmiedlova, Uchijima), or if Gracheva makes QF, Danilovic makes SF in Roland Garros.

Here are the possibilities for some second teams: Gadecki/Tomljanovic (106) - with Perez/Saville as the first team Saville/Tomljanovic (117) - might be too low, with Gadecki/Perez as the first team I think AUS will go with Perez/Saville and Gadecki/Tomljanovic which would give them more quotas and also Perez/Saville probably has a better chance than Perez/Tomljanovic which would mean Gadecki/Saville (157) would have no chance to qualify. Kerber/Maria (92) - I can't see Korpatsch/Siegemund as the main team but maybe Siegemund would play with someone like Friedsam or NIemeier, she is top 10 anyways so she can choose anyone she wants Kerber/Korpatsch (105) - With Siegemund playing with Maria or Friedsam, Niemeier, etc. Korpatsch/Maria (135) - Too low to qualify, so if Germany goes with Kerber/Siegemund, which I think is more likely than Australia going with Perez/Tomljanovic, then Germany has no chance for a second team So I think will have two teams, maybe 50/50, only 1 team, and it really depends on if L.Chan will play, or if Hsieh will choose someone other than Wu (and obviously she won't choose H.Chan as they hate each other)

I will try right now to paint the picture (using current live rankings which may change) for women's doubles: Automatically qualified, based on top 10: (Mertens with whoever she chooses in top 300, it is impossible for Belgium to qualify another team otherwise) (This one is complicated because Hsieh doesn't get along with the Chan sisters, so she will probably play with Wu, but L.Chan hasn't played since last year so if she has a protected ranking she can use it to enter with her sister, otherwise Hsieh can play with someone else and H.Chan will qualify by ranking with Wu so they have two teams but I think it is more likely to see Hsieh/Wu and then if L.Chan is retired or injured then they will only have one team in Paris) (Routliffe can choose to play with Sun or Hourigan only, as they have no one else in top 300 and no chance to qualify a second team) (Dabrowski with whoever she chooses, probably Fernandez. If she chooses someone like Marino then Andreescu/Fernandez can also qualify via ranking, but I think she will pick Fernandez so Canada will only have one team) (This is another tricky situation because they can possibly get two teams depending on which combination they go with, but I think the likely one is Kerber/Siegemund which means the next highest ranked pair is Korpatsch/Maria and they would need a bunch of withdrawals to get in, now if Siegemund plays with Maria for example Kerber/Korpatsch will probably qualify) (Zvonareva is top 10 and I don't know what pairings they will use but Russia will definitely qualify 2 teams) (Hunter and Perez are top 10 but Hunter is injured-long term and will miss Paris, so the other AUS spot gets reallocated to the combined ranking route. Gadecki/Tomljanovic would probably qualify by ranking so if Hunter chooses someone else like Saville or Sharma, then AUS can have two teams. If she plays with Gadecki or Tomljanovic then chances are low for AUS to have a second team) (Melichar is top 10 but like Russia they will have two teams regardless) (Siniakova is top 10 but they will have two teams regardless) So based on the above, we will definitely have these 12 teams: With each potentially adding another team, so we'll say yes for now and that makes 15 teams will all also have 2 teams by ranking, so now we're up to 21 and this is where things get complicated. can all only have 1 team by ranking, probably Bucsa/Sorribes Tormo, Rus/Schuurs, Danilina/Rybakina, Azarenka/Sabalenka. can have 2 teams by ranking, but only if Swiatek plays with Kawa or Piter, which I'm sure won't happen, so they will also probably have just 1 team which would be Swiatek with Frech or Linette. So that's 26 teams. I think were aiming for 2 teams, with Stefani getting a top 10 spot to play with Pigossi who is outside the top 100 but they won bronze together in Tokyo, and Haddad Maia with Gamarra Martins who would also qualify by ranking. Now Stefani is 11 and withdrew from Roland Garros so can only have 1 team in Paris probably and probably Pigossi won't play, it'll be 2 of the other 3 girls. Only chance for Pigossi/Stefani is if there are a ton of withdrawals or if Pigossi wins a big 125k or something in singles next week and rises into the top 100, but as of now only 1 team for Brazil, so that's 27. played with Boulter/Watson at Roland Garros so probably that will be their team for Paris. With other combinations they could possibly qualify a second team if they do Boulter/Nicholls and Lumsden/Watson but that still wouldn't be 100% certain so they'll likely stick with the 1 team, becoming the 28th team. won't need to use their host spot as Garcia/Mladenovic will qualify anyways, and then Burel/Parry would be borderline, but if Gracheva wins her next match at Roland Garros then she would move up a lot in the rankings and Burel/Gracheva would definitely make the cut, but let's say for now France only has 1 team, so that's 29. Based on their historical partnerships, I think we see Begu/Niculescu qualify and then Bogdan/Cristian are borderline. Cirstea hasn't played for the national team since 2018 so I don't think they could even make an exemption for her, and she didn't seem to care about missing Tokyo so I don't expect her to be in Paris either. Errani/Paolini will qualify and Bronzetti/Cocciaretto are borderline. That is 31 teams. Now for the last spot, based on the current live rankings: Burel/Parry (106) ------------------------------------------------ Grammatikopoulou/Sakkari (108) - But Sakkari said she wants to play with Papamichail, but Papamichail/Sakkari would be 118 right now, so if they don't make it then I guess she will still try with Grammatikopoulou? I'm not sure. Bronzetti/Cocciaretto (110) Bogdan/Cristian (118) Martic/Vekic (119) Babos/Bondar (119) Badosa/Bouzas Maneiro (120) Ostapenko/Semenistaja (126) - I think Sevastova has a higher protected ranking that would get her in with Ostapenko but I think she has a bad injury and won't be able to make Paris. Not 100% sure though. Frech/Kawa (128) - If the first team is Linette/Swiatek. Olmos/Zarazua (129) Pigossi/Stefani (130) - If Brazil chooses Gamarra Martins/Haddad Maia, otherwise Pigossi with one of the others would be even lower than 130. Lumsden/Nicholls (131) Mihalikova/Schmiedlova (134) Of course also we don't know what will decide, but if they only have 1 team each then it's possible for more teams after Burel/Parry to get in.

Yes, Rus/Schuurs will easily qualify, the cutoff right now is around 110 without withdrawals. For men the cutoff is higher, but the Netherlands will probably have 2 men's doubles teams.

As expected, good start for , and also for at the European U19 Championships. We won our heats in JM1X, JM2X, JW2X and I'd honestly be surprised if we didn't win gold in those events. We also won our heat in JM2- and should win a medal tomorrow but I don't know yet what colour. JW2- a little disappointing, but they were in a tough heat and still qualified for the final. JM4- also a little disappointing but made the final. I'm not sure why 3 of our rowers were switched out at the last minute, maybe the original guys got Covid or something? JW4X no words, 7 crews and they were the only ones who couldn't make the final. I'm not sure why they were chosen when I think we have better girls who stayed home, but also they are a young team, Mouratidou for example in the bow seat is only 15. Hopefully changes are made for the World Championships.

Yes but he is 35, almost 36 yo, and has never participated at the Olympics before, and this time it is in his home country!

We haven't qualified in boxing since Beijing. For Tokyo we had 3 athletes lose quota bouts (1 had to withdraw due to injury). 20 yo Roulias is the only one this time who made it to a quota bout. Really hoping he can make it. I'm not sure why we only sent two women here. I thought the youngsters Giannkopoulou and/or Stavridou deserved a chance as well as Linardatou who did so well in the previous qualifying tournament.

Why no Mannarino?

I'm not sure, because I think UEFA counts the Euro win as only

Danilovic has a very good draw to make the quarterfinals, if she does it she will be the first Serbian woman to make a slam QF since Ana Ivanovic at RG 2015!

Yeah I'm pretty sure we won't qualify as usual, on paper we should have qualified for London, Rio, and Tokyo but always something goes wrong whether it is multiple injured players or another country playing their best game ever against us (Nigeria in 2012 and Czechs in 2021) or the NBA season running into mid July or a combination of these

For us qualifying is harder than finals apparently

Thank you! Slava Ukraini! Panathinaikos fans have been bragging about 1971 ever since, and they even now are trying to downplay Conference League and say it is "Intertoto" or "Milko Cup" (Milko is a Greek brand of chocolate milk so they do it in a way to make it seem unserious). Anyways, many people who support thew rival teams were happy for Olympiacos, of course there will always be haters though We are also now one of 8 countries who have won a European trophy both with the national team and with a club team, joining , an incredible achievement for our country compared to these footballing giants, even aren't on that list

The first time I cried tears of joy from a football game since the 2014 World Cup!

We are not sleeping tonight! Incredible night for Olympiacos, Greek football, and Greece in general! And for it to happen in our home country as well, just incredible! I am often complaining about our sport hitting new lows but we have won two European titles (Panathinaikos BC in Euroleague and now this) this week, not bad! Also funny that in football this season, PAOK won the league, Panathinaikos won the cup, and Olympiacos won a European trophy at AEK's stadium. So the four major Greek clubs were all represented in some way

2024 European U23 Wrestling Championships: GOLD Gkivi Bliatze (Men's Freestyle 92 kg) Georgios Kougioumtsidis (Men's Freestyle 79 kg)

Panathinaikos wins! It was great to see a Greek team win after many years, and Sloukas with 24 points in 25 minutes, hopefully he can bring that level to the national team this summer because we will need him.

Huge result in decathlon at the Balkan Championships, 24 yo Angelos Andreoglou improves his PB from 7676 at last year's Balkan Championships to 7926 to win gold This is now second all-time in Greece (NR is 8069 from a million years ago). Andreoglou now passed Alexandros Spyridonidis who had 7917 in 2022 as a 24 yo, and seemed to be the one who was going to take the NR, but has had injury problems since then. Andreoglou had PBs today in the shot put, discus, and 1500. Suddenly it seems like he can make the European Championships (as I'm sure there will also be a lot of withdrawals due to it being an Olympic year), and with a good score/result there (which is possible considering his form and the higher level of competition), maybe he can even make it to the Olympics...