Makedonas

Hello friends, does AJ Ginnis have any chance of winning a medal? Or at least being top 10? I think our highest ever placing in any winter Olympic event was 13th so it would be nice if he can break that record. Fun Fact: He was actually born in Greece and lived in Greece until he was 12. Happy New Year to all!

Στη καλλιτεχνική κολύμβηση θα ήθελα να δω πως θα επανέλθουν τα κορίτσια μας μετά από το φιάσκο που αντιμετώπισαν στο Τόκιο. Ελπίζω να πάνε όλα καλά στο παγκόσμιο και θα ήταν μια ευχάριστη έκπληξη να βελτιώνουμε τη βαθμολογία μας στο ομαδικό και να καλύψουμε τη διαφορά από την Ισπανία και την Ιταλία όσο μπορούμε. Με την Γαλλία ως οικοδέσποινα, δύσκολα να ξαναπάρουμε την πρόκριση στο ομαδικό το 2024, αν και έχουμε μια πολύ νεανική ομάδα σε σχέση με άλλες χώρες. Το μόνο σίγουρο είναι ότι το ντουέτο θα πάρει εύκολα το Ολυμπιακό εισιτήριο και είμαι περίεργος να δω αν θα είναι πάλι Παπάζογλου-Πλατανιώτη το δίδυμο, η αν θα υπάρχουν αλλαγές στην ομάδα. Όσον αφορά τη γυμναστική, σίγουρα ο Πετρουνιας θα είναι το μεγάλο φαβορί στο Ευρωπαϊκό Πρωτάθλημα και περιμένουμε και ενα μετάλλιο και στο Παγκόσμιο (μακάρι το χρυσό!). Θέλω να δω και καλά αποτελέσματα από τους άλλους αθλητές της ενόργανης. Μου φάνηκε ντροπή που ο Πετρουνιας ήταν ο μόνος Έλληνας στο Τόκιο στο άθλημα του (και παραλίγο να μην προκριθεί ούτε αυτός). Ηλιοπουλος, Τανταλιδης, Κατσαλη, Αφράτη κτλ. Καλό θα ήταν κάποιους από αυτούς να εξελίσσονται τα επόμενα χρόνια και να πάνε στην επόμενη Ολυμπιάδα. Το ίδιο ισχύει για την ρυθμική, όπου η Κελαϊδίτη, η Μαγοπουλου και η Δερβίση θα έχουν πιθανότητες πρόκρισης. Θα ήμουν ικανοποιημένος με 3 η 4 αθλητές της γυμναστικής στο Παρίσι (μάλλον 2-3 στην ενόργανη και 1 στη ρυθμική). Προσωπικά δεν παρακολουθώ πολύ την ποδηλασία, όμως θέλω τουλάχιστον να συνεχίσουμε να στέλνουμε 3-4 ποδηλάτες σε κάθε Ολυμπιάδα. Γνωρίζω ότι ο Λιβανος τα έχει πάει εξαιρετικά στην κατηγορία των εφηβων και μακάρι να μας φέρνει καλά αποτελέσματα στην κατηγορία των ανδρών στο άμεσο μέλλον.

Στο τζούντο θα έχουμε παγκόσμια και πανευρωπαϊκά πρωταθλήματα το 2022. Δύσκολα να πάρουμε κάποιο μετάλλιο (τουλάχιστον στην κατηγορία ανδρών-γυναικών) αλλά καλό θα ήταν να έχουν καλές εμφανίσεις οι τζουντόκα μας και να ανεβούν βήμα-βήμα στη παγκόσμια κατάταξη. Στο Τόκιο στέλναμε 2 τζουντόκα, θα ήθελα η ομάδα να φτάσει στα 3-4 μέλη στο Παρίσι, πράγμα που πιστεύω είναι εφικτός στόχος αν και λίγο δύσκολος. Ας θυμηθούμε ότι ο Τσελιδης βρισκόταν σε τροχιά πρόκρισης πριν τον τραυματισμό του. Στις καταδύσεις θα ήθελα τα νέα παιδιά να συνεχίσουν τις καλές τους πορείες, με αποτέλεσμα να έχουμε 1-2 εκπροσωπους στο Παρίσι σε αυτό το άθλημα. Τα ίδια ισχύουν στην άρση βαρών (Ιακωβίδης + Γεωργοπούλου ίσως, φαίνεται να έχει μέλλον στο άθλημα) και στο πινγκ πονγκ (Γκιώνης + Σγουροπουλος) εν όψει 2024.

Also in general I think our women’s rowing team can shine in Paris. We only had three girls in Tokyo. Christina Bourmpou and Maria Kyridou, both 20 years old (18 when they secured qualification for Tokyo) finished 5th in the women’s pair. Maria’s sister, Anneta Kyridou, finished 10th in the women’s single sculls as a 22 year old despite only competing in the event for one year. All three of these girls have won so many medals at the U23 and junior levels, and also European Championships, Youth Olympics, etc. Apparently the Kyridou sisters are training together to compete in the pair in Paris so I’m not sure what Bourmpou will do, but we have some other options that she can make a strong crew with. Evangelia Fragkou this year won four medals in four events. Bronze at the World U23s (double sculls w/Arabatzi), bronze at the World Juniors (single sculls), gold at the European U23s (double sculls w/Anastasiadou), and gold at the European Juniors (double sculls w/Natsioula). Evangelia Anastasiadou was originally going to try to qualify in the women’s lightweight double sculls with Anneta Kyridou, but things changed when Anneta switched to single sculls. Anyways she won gold in the lightweight single sculls at the European U23 Championships in 2020 as an 18 year old, and silver in 2021 at the World U23 Championships in the same event, and also as I said won gold at the European U23s in the double sculls with Fragkou even though Anastasiadou is a lightweight rower at just 165cm. Styliani Natsioula who won gold with Fragkou in the double sculls at the European Juniors this year is another good option. They won bronze together in 2020 when Natsioula was just 15. Natsioula will still only be 19 in Paris so maybe Los Angeles is where she will shine. Lastly, our other good young lightweight rower besides Anastasiadou is Eleni Leventelli. She won bronze this year in the lightweight single sculls at the European U23 Championships as a 17 year old. When Anastasiadou was that age she came in 6th place at the European U23s, so technically her progress is better than Anastasiadou’s at the moment.

In addition to those I already mentioned (Ntouskos, Tentoglou, Tzengko), I'd like to add a few others for Georgios Pilidis (wrestling) - He qualified for Tokyo which was impressive considering he's only 21. Since then he also won gold at the World U23 Championships (he had won a lot of medals at major events for his age group but this was his biggest achievement so far). 2021 was a great year for him despite having injury problems as well. Financially he lacks support so he is taking a break now to compete on Greece's Survivor (they offer big prize money plus it is a way to become famous and attract sponsors). I haven't watched any episodes yet (I think there were only one or two so far) but everyone is suddenly taking an interest in him and people who never heard of him are all saying he is the big favourite to win it all. I think it says a lot about how much he wants to make a big career in wrestling that he's willing to go to Survivor to acquire the money to support his career. He is clearly ambitious and has already done very well so I don't see why he can't achieve great things. I just hope competing on Survivor and missing a few months of training won't have such a negative impact on him (though his injury problems didn't stop him in 2021 either despite not being able to properly train at times). Apostolos Papastamos (swimming) - He had some injury problems in 2021 also, so he didn't do well in Tokyo but I think he can do much better in 2024. Let's not forget he won gold in the 400 medley at the 2019 World Juniors and European Juniors, also won gold in the 200 medley at the European Juniors and bronze at the World Juniors. In the 400 medley he broke our NR in 2019 as an 18 year old and also broke the world junior record (I'm not sure if he still has it or not). Anastasia Dragomirova (athletics - heptathlon) - Due to injury problems she was only competing in shot put in 2021, but she is planning to return to the heptathlon next year. She's never competed in a senior heptathlon yet, but some of her PBs are really impressive. 15.69 in shot put (this year, as an 18 year old), 45.76 javelin (last year, as a 17 year old), 1.78 high jump (last year, as a 17 year old), 6.44 long jump (in 2019, as a 16 year old). With those PBs, she would've been 1st in the shot put in Tokyo, 4th in the long jump and 10th in the javelin. She's still so young and can build on these, but her results in track events aren't that impressive although she hasn't competed a lot so it's tough to judge so far.

Τι περιμένετε από τους αθλητές μας το 2022; Ας αρχίσουμε με το πόλο, όπου οι εθνικές μας ομάδες πήραν συνολικά 6 μετάλλια το 2021. Το 2022 έχουμε παγκόσμια και πανευρωπαϊκά πρωταθλήματα μπροστά μας (στην κατηγορία ανδρών-γυναικών) αλλά και διάφορες μεγάλες διοργανώσεις στις ηλικιακές κατηγορίες. Σίγουρα δε θα στεναχωρηθώ αν ξαναπάρουμε 6 μετάλλια κατά τη διάρκεια της χρονιάς Βεβαια υπάρχουν και τα ευρωπαϊκά πρωταθλήματα των συλλόγων όπου διεκδικούμε διακρίσεις και στους άνδρες αλλά και στις γυναίκες, ειδικά με τις ομάδες του Ολυμπιακού.

Not to sound arrogant but it's probably going to be Greece, really I'm offended that we weren't included in the poll as an option

This issue is still being discussed very much in Greece, the fan award winners will be released in a few days so the results of that will be very interesting. This has caused a lot of controversy with people saying Giannis should've won, or Tentoglou, or Ntouskos, or Tsitsipas, or Tsimikas... In my opinion it's nice that we are even having these conversations because it shows that we had a good year for male sportsmen if we have so many good options for this award, but also it shows that the athletes from more popular sports like basketball, football, tennis will always be favoured over those from athletics or rowing, gymnastics...

Stefanidi thinks Tentoglou deserved to win and she is not staying quiet about it. She has a good point. She always speaks her mind even though I often disagree with her, I respect that she isn't afraid to give her opinions (on various issues including outside of sport too).

Georgiadou and Gkountoura gave a long interview after this and they both said the Olympic qualification system is unfair how only one athlete per country can make it if they don't have a team, and that their goal is to qualify for Paris as a team but it will be very hard to find 1-2 more athletes. However they kept repeating this so I wonder if they are in talks with Vougiouka to make a comeback. She will be 38 in Paris, but Velikaya and Zagunis are both 36 and still in the top 10 at the moment. That would be really special if they could make it happen although Vougiouka has been retired for 5 years now so who knows what physical condition she will be in even in the unlikely event that she does come back. The girls also said that they were cheering for each other every round, and when they found out they were facing each other in the final they were celebrating together and hugging together while everyone else was looking at them strangely. They said they didn't care who won in the final (which is probably a lie, lol) and that afterwards they went out to dinner to celebrate together. They said fencers from big powers like Russia, USA, Italy, France won't understand how special it was for them to both make the final and that they hope it gives them more sponsors because they went to Orleans with their own money. They said it's hard to make it without support and that there were other talented fencers in Greece who stopped at 18 to go to university and try to have a normal/stable life and make a career.

PSAT Awards (from Greek journalists) : Male athlete of the year: Giannis Antetokounmpo (basketball) Female athlete of the year: Maria Sakkari (tennis) Team of the year: Men's national team (water polo) Coach of the year: Thodoris Vlachos (water polo) Disabled male athlete of the year: Athanasios Ghavelas with guide Sotirios Gkaragkanis (athletics) Disabled female athlete of the year: Alexandra Stamatopoulou (swimming) Disabled team of the year: Mixed pairs BC3 (boccia) It's kind of funny that the male athlete of the year in an Olympic year was someone who didn't even go to the Olympics, but he was NBA Finals MVP so of course he had to win it because the whole world knows him. I personally think Miltiadis Tentoglou (long jump) deserved it the most. He had WL for indoor and outdoor, Olympic gold and European indoor gold. Really he was the best in the world in his sport and it still wasn't enough. Stefanos Ntouskos (rowing) also won Olympic gold. It was between Antetokounmpo, Tentoglou, and Ntouskos in the top 3. Crazy that Tsitsipas wasn't one of the three nominees (he was 5th in the preliminary vote), most other years he might have won but this was a really strong year for our men. Kostas Tsimikas (footballer for Liverpool) was 7th. I think Sakkari deserved it this year for the women (unlike last year when she won it which I didn't think she deserved), it was the first Olympics since 1988 that we didn't have any women win medals. Sakkari made the quarterfinals in mixed doubles and round of 16 in singles, losing close three set matches in both to eventual medal winners. She had nine wins over top 10 ranked opponents this year, made two Grand Slam semifinals and moved up from 22 to 6 in the rankings. The other two nominees were Ekaterini Stefanidi (pole vault) who got 4th at the Olympics, and Anna Ntountounaki (swimming) who won gold at the European Championships, two medals at the European Short Course Championships, 9th and 11th at the Olympics in her two events (one being a relay) and set many national records this year. Anna Korakaki (shooting) was 4th in the voting and did not make it to the final round, she got 6th place in both of her Olympic events this year. Side note: I'm disappointed that our rower Evangelia Fragkou was 39th out of the 39 female nominees. She competed in 4 events this year and won medals at all of them, including two gold (though they were both at European events, her other two medals were at World events). I'm not saying she should've been top 3 or even top 10, but she didn't deserve last place especially when other female rowers who didn't win as much as her were placed much higher.

21 yo Georgios Pilidis, who competed this year at the Olympics and won gold at the World U23 Championships, will be taking a break to compete in the Greek reality show "Survivor." His reasons for this are probably economic, as one of our female sprinters/hurdlers Katerina Dalaka became very famous from competing on Survivor and attracted a lot of sponsors and is now a "social media influencer" and also is competing again despite taking a long break (she was on the show for two seasons because she was runner-up in 2018 and went back in 2019 because she wanted to first place, and she did win). She also won big prize money for winning the show. So this is a new trend I guess for athletes to get economic support. I don't watch the show, but I'd imagine Dalaka did so well because she was already in very good physical shape unlike some other contestants who are just regular people and maybe workout a lot but are not professional athletes. However Pilidis is definitely much bigger than Dalaka in his sport, as he has won many medals at important competitions and is definitely an Olympic medal hope for 2024. Dalaka was already 25 or 26 when she first went to Survivor, and competed in the European Championships just once. She sometimes wins medals at the Greek and Balkan Championships but she's not really a top athlete like Pilidis is.

I'd be shocked if we don't pick Maria Ntanou. This will be her third Olympics (and possibly her last considering her age). She has never done it before (and it's not like we have a ton of options) and she works for the IOC and Hellenic Olympic Committee. She was an Athlete Role Model at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics too.

Do we have any chances for more quotas? I know nothing about winter sports. I think we currently have 2 in alpine skiing (1M, 1W) and 3 in cross-country skiing (1M, 2W) although I could be mistaken. We had 7 athletes in both Vancouver and Sochi, and only 4 in Pyeongchang, so at least we improved from 2018. Our largest team was Nagano 1998 where we had 13 athletes in six different sports (alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, luge, snowboarding). In 2014 we competed in sports like skeleton and ski jumping, up until 2010 we always had biathlon too. Now it looks like it might be the second Olympics in a row with only the two sports (alpine skiing and cross-country skiing). To be honest it is hard for me to get interested in the Winter Olympics when my country doesn't have any realistic medal hopes, although I sometimes enjoy watching ice hockey and curling (obviously watching other countries).

Wow, I wonder if this has to do with Ieva's ban? Milda didn't want to switch to single sculls? Donata is already 32 so I wouldn't be surprised if she stopped too. She already seemed to have stopped and only came back when Ieva got banned.

Vasiliki Arvaniti (beach volleyball) - Three-time Olympian (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012) and two-time European champion (2005 and 2007). She is 36 years old and after not qualifying for Tokyo it's not surprising that she retired, she already gave birth to her child and then came back to try to qualify for Tokyo but tore her ACL in late 2019 which made things difficult.

"Qami" was the name of Armenia's Eurovision song a few years ago also, so I guess they figured they'd do better with "Qami Qami" Maybe now they can send another song "Qami Qami Qami" and they'd surely win

So far we had 4th, 7th, and 7th places in our three finals. Now we have another two finals. Too bad Gkolomeev isn't here, he really could've won a medal.

Our mixed relay team made the final with the 6th best time and a national record. Still no medal for us, this is our third final so far, I really hope we can win one this weekend.

Very interesting. I was surprised to see her name in the callups yesterday, though I'm not sure how good she is. Still, it doesn't change the fact that her Ethnikos Piraeus teammate Stephanie Haralabidis (who was born and raised in Greece and is one of the best players in the world) plays for USA instead of Greece . Though she got an Olympic gold medal so I guess it was the right choice for her. Italy had a half Greek on their Olympic softball team in Tokyo, so I guess we're even now And our two best female marathon runners are half Italian, Alexi Pappas (from USA) and Gloria Privileggio (from Greece). EDIT-We actually had the Valcareggi siblings in alpine skiing, they were born in Italy but their mother is Greek and they switched to Greece, one of them actually represented Greece in Sochi even.

Vazaios 4th in men's 200 IM. Disappointing to not win a medal after being so close, but very proud of him. Christou is in the 100 backstroke final with the 3rd fastest time in the semifinals so hopefully he can win a medal. The goal for the Greek team here is basically to win a medal. We've only ever won one medal at this event and it was a bronze in 2008 by a doper so it doesn't really count. Really we are due for a medal, I hope it comes in the next few days although many thought the men's 200 IM was our best chance.

Greece once again with Kosovo, after the last nations league and WC qualifying. We just can't get away from them

I miss the years when we would have a national final. I don't like this internal selection process. 2015 was the last year we had a real national final and it's no coincidence that our perfect qualification record ended in 2016. Our song in 2019 was actually very well received by Europe when it was released but it didn't do as well as we expected. I don't know what you mean by "100% Greek" because Katerine in 2019 had two Greek parents and lived in Greece for many years despite being born in Canada, although she wasn't famous in Greece before Eurovision and neither was Stefania who is from the Netherlands even though her parents are both Greek also. Anyways she got Greece back to the top 10 for the first time since 2013 so I guess it was a good choice. I agree though that it's disappointing to not send someone who is famous/popular in Greece as I think we have many good options. Also lately we always send females, maybe it's time to send a male again? As for the traditional sounds, well the last two times we sent traditional sounds were the only two times in history that we didn't qualify (2016 and 2018) so Europeans always say on youtube that they miss our traditional sounds but then when we send them they don't vote for us It's funny that Ilias Kozas was shortlisted because he gave an interview some years ago where he said he would never do Eurovision again so I wonder what made him change his mind.

I just saw a video of Amanda, she actually speaks Greek quite well (with an obvious accent and some minor grammatical errors though). Her real surname is Georgiadis but Tenfjord is her stage name because it's the city where she lived in Norway (she's from Ioannina, Greece and moved to Tenfjord, Norway at age 3). She didn't say anything about her mother being Norwegian so I'm not sure if that's even true.

I'm Greek and I have never heard of her before. I can guarantee that 99% of the Greek public does not know her either. Apparently she was born in Greece to a Greek father and a Norwegian mother and was raised in Norway.