Makedonas

...for once it seems logic prevails, as it looks like the Kyridou sisters are now going to be the new Greek W2X. Suddenly we are now the overwhelming favourites to take a quota in this event in Lucerne, as long as things stay as is and there is no further drama.

Cycling - Road +1 TBD (men's road race)

Day 0: Opening ceremony (I usually only care for the parade of nations, so I can skip the beginning part ) Day 1: Basketball - M group phase (if Greece qualifies and is playing) Canoe Slalom - MC1 heats and WK1 heats Rowing - Wherever there are Greeks, so for this day it will be M1X and hopefully some others can qualify (W1X, M2X, W2X) Swimming - Various events Table Tennis - If there is a Greek competing Tennis - Various matches Water Polo - W group phase (if Greece qualifies and is playing)

These rankings show points that will count for Paris: https://live-tennis.eu/en/olympics-race-men-singles https://live-tennis.eu/en/olympics-race-women-singles

I did not see the full match so I can't say much, and I'm sorry about the laser. It's disappointing to lose 1-0 to both France and the Netherlands because each team got awarded two penalties against us and each team had the first penalty saved but scored the second. Some of the calls were questionable too if we're being honest, and this certainly does not disprove some theories that UEFA favors certain "powerful" nations over others. We've played well this campaign and deserve to qualify based on that. Hopefully we don't mess up in the playoffs.

So they can add breaking, sport climbing, lacrosse, squash, flag football, 3x3 basketball, and all these other ridiculous sports that we don't participate/do well in, but they just had to get rid of lightweight rowing which we are actually good in and win medals

Also I'm personally disappointed with and I really do not want Albania back in another major tournament after how their fans acted in 2016, bringing anti-Greek political banners to their opening game in France These nationalists think we are such a bad country with racist people, meanwhile their team captain at the time was playing in our league and Greece is the number one country for Albanians to migrate to. Make it make sense...

Nice 0-2 win for us at Ireland to keep our chances for direct qualification alive I would love to avoid the playoffs but we are in such a tough group so it's hard, still we are 2nd and the match against the Dutch on Monday will be critical Also it seems that Turkey will qualify directly which will make our playoff group a lot easier should we need that route...

Eleni Potari (women's handball) - competed at the 2004 Olympics. Age 41, died of cancer

That's my same thought about Greece I think "we won't qualify in any of these so I do not care" I will say it's sad that we didn't really have the option to choose to add "sports" in 2004 as the host nation, we could have swept the podium in backgammon for example

That's not true, they changed the rule so they can "enter" (and obviously play) 3, but Maria played two (Linz and Birmingham) and entered Rabat but withdrew. Had she not entered Rabat, since she did not play anyways, she would've still had a chance at a 250 next week (although not anymore since she lost in Zhengzhou). I still wonder if Muchova will show up in Cancun or not...

Nice topic, thanks for creating it @rafalgorka I think it would also be interesting to see what people say about NOCs with active users that are not their own. For example I'd be curious to see what non-Greeks think about Greece! Also I'm surprised no one mentioned tennis for Belgium. Elise Mertens is currently ranked number one in doubles, and Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen are both in the top 20 in men's doubles. I think Belgium will have a chance to win medals in both men's doubles and mixed doubles!

Gymnastics - Artistic +1 Eleftherios Petrounias (men's rings)

If you think our aquatics federation is bad after the two above posts, wait until you hear about our football, sailing, rowing, and wrestling federations

...and another two young retirements, also from aquatics... 19 yo artistic swimmers Eleni Fragkaki and Krystallenia Gialama, both of whom were part of our Tokyo Olympic team that traveled to Japan, stayed in the Olympic village, but didn't get to actually compete due to multiple positive Covid cases in the team. Well it looks like they'll never get to compete in the Olympics now, they are quitting the sport after being kicked out from the national team a few days ago. So from the 8 young girls who were a part of that team that didn't get to compete in Tokyo (after we qualified for the first time since 2004!), only 2 of them are still with the national team (3 if you include the alternate). Most of the girls were teenagers and it seemed that they would have more chances to go to the Olympics. Both girls moved from other parts of the country to Athens at age 14 to train with the national team. They competed at the World Championships in 2019, 2022 and 2023, and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. Now, just a few months away from the 2024 World Championships, they are not being given the chance to compete and qualify for the Paris Olympics. They said they have no regrets, and that these experiences shaped their character, but now it feels like everything was a waste. This came after the federation did an annual test of about 30-40 girls after the summer. They thought their tests went well and many others, including the national team coach (!!!) also told them that they did well. Two days later, the national team coach (who is Russian and not Greek) called the girls and told them each the same thing, as if she was reading it from a piece of paper. They were told that they made some mistakes in the water at the test (there are not even any videos to see) and that they are too heavy, but the girls say they are the same weight they were in the last two years and they were never told that was a problem. They were also told that other, younger athletes deserve more opportunities, which the girls said maybe is a valid reason to remove them from the national team, but not to do it 4 months before the Olympic qualification event after spending years training with the team. They aren't even being given a fair opportunity to rejoin the national team, they are simply done. They believe the coaches have their favourites who they want to promote. The girls are also shocked that this happened to them, after so many years with the national team and working with that coach, that out of nowhere she said they are not good enough. The coach doesn't seem to care, nor the federation, and the only people who reached out to them were their teammates. They also heard that now the atmosphere in the team is not so good, ever since they were kicked out, and that they have great relationships with the other girls in the team (who told them how it is not the same without them etc.) Here is an interview from the girls (in Greek, it's too long for me to translate but quite shocking to hear some of the things they said) : https://aquafeed24.com/big-interview-aqf24-drimy-katigoro-orgi-kai-apokalypseis-apo-krystalenia-gialama-elena-fragkaki/ Some highlights: -Both girls started university last year (one in medical school and one in dentistry), and they asked to take 1-2 hours per day for their studies, but were told they need to practice 10 hours a day and have to choose between their studies and the sport, that if they chose their studies they will be removed from the national team, and so they chose the sport (now they are going to focus on studies). -They never got any money/support from the federation, not even 1 euro, but they didn't ever complain or go against the federation or the coaches, and now they are being kicked out with no reason. -There were instances where they were promised some money and never received it, and then told it was their fault for not asking for the money. -The federation rented a house for girls who were from outside Athens (these teenage girls were living by themselves in the house), and it was a small house for 4 people and at one point 11 girls were living there. They were told originally that the federation would provide them food, that also did not happen, and the girls in the house had to make their own food or eat food from their families which they froze. The house was far from the training centre and no one helped them transport themselves, they were completely on their own in a new city. -After summer 2022, the girls were getting ready to go back to the rented house in Athens, and a week before they were notified that they can't stay there because it is only for girls under 18. No one ever told them about this "rule" and they lived like nomads until February bouncing around to different relatives houses until they found a place. -The federation would brag/exaggerate in interviews about how they would support the team and that they were all working with a psychologist, but the girls say they only had a psychologist twice in one year. Despite all of this, the girls said they still loved the sport and wanted to pursue their Olympic dreams no matter what, until the national team coach ended that dream for them. They say it has happened to other girls in the past too, which doesn't surprise me seeing most of the girls from the Tokyo team have disappeared, and the Alexandri sisters are now winning medals for Austria, a country they had nothing to do with before getting citizenship...

23 yo diver Nikolaos Molvalis (25th at the 2023 Worlds in 10m platform) He was our biggest chance to qualify a diver to the Olympics for the first time since 2012. He didn't develop as we thought after he was 23rd in 2019 as a 19 yo but still seemed to have a solid chance at qualifying for Paris. He said he didn't want to take a year off school to risk it for the Olympics (it case he didn't qualify) especially since he doesn't have a program with a high enough difficulty score to fulfill his Olympic dream. He said that we don't have the facilities to attempt more difficult dives, that there are only two pools in all of Greece with such capability, otherwise he would risk injury. He blamed the Greek federation for not being able to protect his future, and he said that if he made a mistake at the 2024 Worlds and didn't qualify for Paris because of it, that he would waste a year of his life (not being able to study) and that it was too much of a risk. He said when he notified the federation of his decision to stop diving, they didn't even care or try to help him or convince him to stay, they were indifferent and did not even thank him for his contributions to the sport in our country (being by far our best diver of the last decade, not that it's a high standard but still). He said only the national team coach reached out to him and thanked him and supported him. No one else from the federation cared.

https://aquafeed24.com/big-interview-aqf24-drimy-katigoro-orgi-kai-apokalypseis-apo-krystalenia-gialama-elena-fragkaki/ Ελλαδιστάν...

MARINA SATTI - MANTISSA

When will teams be announced?

Any news on the United Cup for 2024?

Maria making a big push to the WTA Finals. She was 16th in the race before Guadalajara, then she was 9th after winning. Now she made the SF in Tokyo and QF (so far) in Beijing. She's still 9th but the gap is only 405 points now. I'm not sure if she can make it though, she probably needs to beat Gauff and make the Beijing SF to have a realistic chance, otherwise she will need to win Zhengzhou and then take a WC to a 250 and make the final, and that's if others ahead of her don't gain any points in the meantime...

I have a question, in the past there were three Olympic quota places for the apparatus events, now there is only one for each? I've been reading some conflicting things from Greek sources so I figure I'd ask here, Petrounias can still qualify even without gold because the Chinese aren't eligible for more quota places? I am not so sure and would appreciate some guidance here. Thank you.

Well most of this is accurate but some changes have to be made. I said 0 for triathlon, but Bitados seems likely to make it now so we will have 1 hopefully. I also said 0 for sprint canoeing, but it seems that Dimopoulos can possibly make it (I'm not expecting it but there's a chance). Also our 0-1 for equestrian looks like it will end up being 1 in the end, our first time being represented in equestrian since 2004 if all goes as expected On the other hand, 2-3 for boxing seems too optimistic now, I would say 0-2 is my current prediction. This is mostly because Tsanikidis retired and Pita has disappeared, and they were the two boxers I expected to make it the most. However, Papadatou is a nice surprise and I think she can make it and maybe one other. We should still get 1 for Road Cycling, but 1 for Mountain Bike seems impossible as our best cyclist switched to road cycling, and 1-2 in Track Cycling should now be 0-1 as Volikakis retired. I'm hoping Milaki can make it but she'll probably just miss out. I said 2-3 for Judo, and now it's looking like just 2. Ntanatsidis retired and the younger athletes aren't ready so I don't really see how we could possibly get a third judoka. Basketball was 0-24 but now it's 0-12 as the women's team has been eliminated. Diving was 0-2 but I'll say 0-1 now as 23 yo Molvalis (our best hope) retired a few days ago We had a bad year in weightlifting at the senior level, so 1-2 is probably not happening, hopefully we can somehow keep our qualification streak alive but it's probably done... 15-20 for swimming is too optimistic, some of our youngsters from Tokyo have underperformed (Englezakis, Makrygiannis, Papastamos) and I think 10-15 is what we should expect at this point. Sailing has been a disaster, 5-10 is too much, I think 3-8 is a better prediction now. Tennis I said 2-3 and I'd like to change it to 2-4, we have one male doubles and two female doubles players all just outside the top 100, so we can probably send one of each to play with Tsitsipas and Sakkari.

I have been to the museum at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens which is cool but very small (the stadium itself is much more impressive). I've also been to the Thessaloniki Olympic Museum which for me was my favourite, although non-Greeks I'm sure would not find it anywhere near as interesting (it's mostly different Greek Olympians, from Thessaloniki or other areas nearby, who gave some of their Olympic kits, equipment, etc.). Not Olympic-related but I enjoyed the museum at Wimbledon in London

For Miltiadis Tentoglou (athletics) Katerina Stefanidi (athletics) We usually choose people with Olympic success in the past, and the only other past gold medalists either carried the flag already (Petrounias, Korakaki), retired after Tokyo (Tsoulfa), or are competing the day after (Ntouskos).