Makedonas

Anyone know why the women's pole vault final has not started yet? It was supposed to begin 15 minutes ago

I never said that she was the worst, but she has had some poor handshakes too.

Sorry but I disagree. She is rude and disrespectful to opponents by giving bad handshakes many times which shows poor sportsmanship, especially when she loses. It's fine if she doesn't show emotions or is shy, but the bad handshakes are rude and classless in my opinion.

Το πρόβλημα με την κωπηλασία είναι ότι πάντα έχουμε καλούς αθλητές στις ηλικιακές κατηγορίες αλλά οι περισσότεροι τα παρατάνε στα 18-19. Στέλνουμε πολύ νεανικές ομάδες σε κάθε Ολυμπιάδα. Ελπίζω το χρυσό μετάλλιο του Στέφανου να φέρει δημοσιότητα και στήριξη στο άθλημα της κωπηλασίας, ώστε να δούμε τις απαραίτητες αλλαγές. Εκτός από τον Ντούσκο, την Μπουρμπου και τις αδερφές Κυριδου, έχουμε και τον Παπακωνσταντίνου, Στεργιακα, Καλανδαριδη, τα αδέρφια Παλαιοπανου, την Αναστασιαδου, Τσαμοπουλου, Νικολαΐδου (είχε σοβαρός τραυματισμός αλλά ανέβασε ποστ στο Instagram πριν λίγες μέρες λέγοντας πως το όνειρο της είναι να πάει στο Παρίσι), Φράγκου, Χριστοδουλιδη, Ασουμανακη (εκτός αν έχει σταματήσει, δεν αγωνιστικέ καθόλου μετά την πανδημία…), Νονη, Βοντζου, Περγουλη κτλ. Μιλάμε για παιδιά που έχουν πάρει πολλά μετάλλια στις ηλικιακές κατηγορίες (εκτός από την Χριστοδουλιδη η οποία είναι μεγάλο ταλέντο και παρά την απειρία της αναδείχθηκε πρωταθλήτρια Αμερικής φετος στο πανεπιστημιακό πρωτάθλημα). Για αυτό πιστεύω και εγώ ότι θα έχουμε πιο πολλούς τελικούς στην κωπηλασία στο Παρίσι. Όσον αφορά την Στεφανιδη, προσωπικά δεν περίμενα να είχε πάρει μετάλλιο αφού δεν βρίσκεται σε καλή φόρμα μετά την πανδημία. Παρ’ολα αυτά πιστεύω μπορεί να ξαναμπεί στο βάθρο το 2024 ειδικά αφού θα χρησιμοποιήσει μεγαλύτερα κοντάρια από εδώ και στο εξής. Εκτός από τον Τεντογλου και την Στεφανιδη, ο Καραλης και η Τζενγκο επίσης έχουν ελπίδες για μετάλλια στο Παρίσι. Και αν βελτιωθούν, ίσως και άλλους αθλητές όπως η Καρύδη, ο Φραντζεσκακης, ο Τσιτσος κτλ., όμως είναι πολύ νωρίς ακόμα για αυτούς… Το τενις στο Παρίσι θα γίνει στις εγκαταστάσεις του Ρολαν Γκαρος (αν δεν κάνω λάθος), άρα θα είναι μεγάλη ευκαιρία για τον Τσιτσιπά αφού είναι πολύ καλός στην χωμάτινη επιφάνεια. Εγώ περίμενα ένα μετάλλιο στο Τόκιο στην ιστιοπλοΐα. Δεν ήρθε το μετάλλιο, αλλα η Καραχάλιου θα έχει μεγάλη ευκαιρία το 2024 όπως και η ομάδα μεικτή 470. Στο iQFoil ανδρών επισης, είτε με τον Κοκκαλανη είτε με τον Καλπογιαννακη. Στα μαχητικά αθλήματα δεν τα πήγαμε καλά στο Τόκιο, συνολικά πήραμε 2 νίκες (από την Τελτσιδου που για μένα ήταν μια ευχάριστη έκπληξη) και 8 ήττες…Περίμενα την Γκουντουρα και την Πρεβολαρακη να τα πάνε καλύτερα. Τουλάχιστον θα έχουν άλλες ευκαιρίες το 2024 όπως και ο Πιλιδης και η Τζέλη. Αν προκριθούν ο Τσανικιδης (πυγμαχία, ήταν τραυματισμένος φετος και αποσύρθηκε από το προολυμπιακό ενώ έμεινε μόνο μια νίκη μακριά από την πρόκριση) και ο Τελικοστογλου (ταεκβοντο, δευτεραθλητής κόσμου το 2019), όλα είναι πιθανά. Στη κολύμβηση η 5η θέση του Κυνιγακη (παρά την μικρή του ηλικία) ήταν άλλη μια ευχάριστη έκπληξη από το Τόκιο, και πιστεύω τουλάχιστον ένας από τον Κυνιγακη και τον Γκολομεεβ (επισης 5ος στο Τόκιο) θα πάρει μετάλλιο στο Παρίσι. Έχει πολύ μέλλον μπροστά του και ο Παπασταμος στην πισίνα. Κλείνοντας θέλω να πω ότι αν προκριθούν οι εθνικές ομάδες μπάσκετ ανδρών και πόλο γυναικών, όλα είναι πιθανά. Το ίδιο ισχύει και για την εθνική μπάσκετ γυναικών, όμως το μετάλλιο θα είναι πιο δύσκολο για εκείνες αλλα η πρόκριση δεν είναι ακατόρθωτη με τις νεαρές παίκτριες που έχουμε. Θα πρέπει να δούμε πως θα εξελιχθούν αυτά τα κορίτσια τα επόμενα 2-3 χρόνια.

Εμεις οι 5 και τον @Yannakis

Sorry but to me she is one of the most rude and disrespectful players so I can't be happy for her, her behaviour over the years has been disgusting. However it is nice to see she seems to finally be becoming mature at age 29, either that or she is less miserable now that she is winning...

This is what I said in another topic. I'm very optimistic about Paris 2024 and I think we will have a good chance to have a much larger team and win many more medals again after a very long time. I'm excited to follow our athletes/teams make progress over the next few years. All of our 4 medalists from Tokyo should be back in Paris, and if all goes well I think they can all win medals again. Plus I think we can win more medals in athletics and rowing, and I think we will win medals in swimming and tennis (we were very close in both this time). Of course there is always sailing where are competitive and some of the fighting sports where we have talents (wrestling, fencing, taekwondo, judo). Shooting is another possibility with not just Korakaki but also some other young talents (Chatzitsakiroglou, Katzouraki, Kefalidou) and maybe it will finally be time for another team sport such as men's basketball or women's water polo?! Of course it is early to tell but so far it's looking good. @George_D @Ted @maestro @El Greco 21

In the end it was a total disaster for us. 6 of our 7 boats made A Finals but just one medal. I wasn't expecting much from our 4 men's boats because there were some key absences and new faces, with the exception of the men's four which finished 5th. Our women's four was disappointing as they finished 6th, when 3 of the 4 girls were part of the team last year which won silver at the European Juniors. Plus they all row for the Nautical Club of Thessaloniki and I expected that they would have a lot of chemistry in that boat, usually our crews are mixed with people from different parts of the country that don't really know each other outside the national team. Also disappointing that our women's double finished 5th after winning their heat and having a girl who won bronze at least year's European Juniors in the same class as a 15 year old. However both girls are just 16 so I guess 5th is a solid result for them, all other crews in the A Final had at least one athlete who won't be eligible for this category next year, and we are the only ones who can have both girls come back. I expected more from Evangelia Fragkou in the women's single sculls but I guess winning a medal is still good, especially since she may have been impacted by the covid outbreak in our training camp last month. If there were another 5-10m, she would've won silver but there wasn't enough water left during her sprint at the end. Still, she is becoming very successful for us with 3 medals in the past year (bronze at 2020 European Juniors, bronze at 2021 World U23s, bronze at 2021 World Juniors). Now she just needs to change the color. I imagine she will appear again this year probably at the European U23s and/or European Juniors. 4 of our 7 women will be able to come back to this category next year, while only 2 of our 9 men will be.

I think her and Elina Tzengko will have a big rivalry in the future

Greece going for our third consecutive title at this event

TEAM GREECE Men Konstantinos Bouzakis - Discus Throw Sotirios Chytas - Pole Vault Konstantinos Gennikis - Shot Put Ioannis Granitsiotis - 200m, 4x100m Relay Ioannis Kariofyllis - 200m, 4x100m Relay Konstantinos Milios - 4x100m Relay Gerasimos Kampitsis - 4x100m Relay Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos - 100m, 4x100m Relay Orestis Ntousakis - Hammer Throw Dimitrios Pavlidis - Discus Throw Theodoros Ziogas - Hammer Throw Women Anastasia Antonopoulou - 10km Walk Anna-Konstantina Chatzipourgani - 400m Hurdles Elli-Eftychia Deligianni - 800m Polyniki Emmanouilidou - 200m Despoina-Areti Filippidou - Discus Throw Sofia Kessidi - Discus Throw Anastasia Ntragkomirova - Shot Put Sotiria Rapti - Triple Jump Anastasia Retsa - Pole Vault Iliana Triantafyllou - Pole Vault Elina Tzengko - Javelin Throw

I think a lot of teams are absent for covid reasons perhaps. Greece originally was not going to compete although now we are (with a slightly smaller team than usual). I also remember Nairobi hosting something else a few years ago and many teams including Greece did not attend.

Platanioti after being quiet on social media for the past few weeks finally spoke about it: https://www.instagram.com/p/CSeRY8FgiGP/ It's a long post which continues into the comments and all in Greek but basically she said that back in Greece she wasn't feeling well and got tested and both tests were negative, so they thought maybe she just had the common cold. Then she did a self test because she still wasn't feeling well and that was negative too until she did a rapid test a few hours later at a doctor's office and that was positive. This was a few days after she received her second dose of the vaccine. She then did everything she could to recover in time for Tokyo and she had 6 negative tests (2 self and 4 PCR) before flying to Tokyo (she doesn't mention it but she stayed behind in Greece for longer while the rest of the team traveled to Tokyo because she was the only positive one). The first two days in Tokyo she had another 3 tests (all PCR), all negative. Then after 5 days of being in Tokyo with negative tests every day they learned that her and some of the other Greek teammates tested positive again. She then wanted to do another test and the Japanese refused but eventually she was allowed to do it and it was negative again. She also said how sad she was and how much she cried and that she worked so hard for this and was so careful the last few months to not get covid, all for nothing in the end... There seems to be some more drama behind this because some of the other Greek artistic swimmers made long posts on Instagram and Pinelopi Karamesiou commented on Eleni Fragkaki's post saying "it would be nice to say the full truth one day" and tagged the Hellenic Olympic Committee and Hellenic Aquatics Federation, and she got 21 likes for her comment including several members of the team. Karamesiou and Georgia Vasilopoulou posted stories today walking around Tokyo so I guess they are two of the ones who tested positive too and had to stay and Tokyo and maybe now they are free to explore the city? Also as I mentioned there was a rumour that one of the team officials was an older woman who refused to be vaccinated and people started blaming her for this outbreak. I have a feeling this is not the last we will hear of this scandal. I am so sad for these girls.

Shocking result for our JW4- in the first heat. I guess they were impacted by the covid outbreak, that's the only explanation really.

Weaker than the recent U20 ECH in many events, though I guess it was to be expected

Yeah, he got a lot of attention and sponsors now so he will continue his career until 2024 now

Started today. Our girls won their heats in JW1X and JW2X so we're looking good in those boats as expected (though I was slightly worried because of the covid outbreak). I expect JW4- to do the same tomorrow. Our best junior boy is not competing here so I guess he was one of the athletes impacted by the covid outbreak in the training camp, too bad.

World Athletics published new rankings, so many changes after the Olympics because it looks like all 2019 results have been dropped also (though 2018 European Championships are still there) Also now they have 35km walk rankings

They did one in Greece a few months ago and also at the European Race Walking Cup I think

1. Rate the performance on a scale of 1-10 I would say 7/10. Although we didn't win as many medals as we'd like, it wasn't a total disaster and we had a lot of young athletes come very close to winning medals which makes us very optimistic for Paris 2024. 2. What were the surprises and heartbreaks ? SURPRISES: 1-Men's water polo team winning silver was definitely a surprise. They were always the type of team that had an outside chance to reach the podium but for various reasons never did so. This time they played really great and had several big wins, including with big margins (+9 against USA and +6 against Montenegro), also beat Hungary twice. 2-Stefanos Ntouskos winning gold in the men's single sculls. I was pretty confident for the past few months that he would win a medal and said it many times on this website, but I did not think it would be gold. He totally dominated his semifinal and final races. 3-The amount of young athletes we had who did so well. There are too many to list but we had some young athletes finish 4th to 9th in many different sports despite not winning medals, so as I said it makes me very confident that 2024 will be good for us and that those who got 5th, 7th place etc will turn those into medals in Paris. Of course also both of our gold medalists were young too, and our men's water polo team was also much younger than the other two medalists. 4-Having five top 8 finishes in athletics. We hadn't done anywhere near that well in athletics since 2004. 5-Seeing so many people in Greece care about our athletes. In Beijing, London and Rio people weren't as interested as they are now. I think social media helped a lot to promote our athletes and get people interested from the younger generations, and also our national TV made a show where they aired special episodes about each athlete/team over the last few months so I think that helped to build interest as well. People got to know our athletes better and learn about them and their life stories. HEARTBREAKS: 1-Our artistic swimming team not being able to compete. I don't think there were any other teams in any sports that had to withdraw completely due to positive covid tests, just individual athletes (I could be wrong). Our girls qualified in the team event for the first time ever (besides 2004) and didn't even get the chance to compete because three of the girls tested positive for covid. They weren't going to a win a medal but they would've finished in 8th place probably and it is unlikely that these girls will ever get the chance to go back to the Olympics. 2-Petrounias getting bronze was a bit sad because we thought he would get silver in the absolute worst case scenario. Also our other gold medalists from Rio got close to the podium but didn't make it (4th, 6th and 6th places). 3-Panagiotis Gionis in table tennis losing 3-4 in the third round after leading 3-1 10-4 and having 8 match points in total (because he had another 2 in the last set). He is 41 and in his fifth Olympics, was trying to make it to the fourth round for the first time ever. I don't think he will ever get another chance like that. 4-Not winning any medals in sailing or tennis. I won't go into details but I was hoping we would win at least 1 medal in each. Sailing is a sport we traditionally do well in and tennis is one of our new sports where we recently started to become good. 5-We were poor in the fighting sports despite having a few medal hopes in some of them. Between fencing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling we had 2 wins and 8 losses. The 2-3 athletes we thought had chances to win medals all lost from the first round. 3. Was your country's goal achieved? I don't think we had a real goal so it's tough to say. I think repeating the success of Rio (6 medals with 3 gold) was probably what our goal should have been, and we did not achieve that (we got 4 medals and 2 gold). 4. Which are the sports that will be invested more in future? -Rowing: We won our first ever gold medal in the sport, and although our rowing team was very small this year compared to previous Games (we only had 4 rowers), all of our rowers are young and did extremely well for their ages. We also did very well last month at the World U23 Championships and I think we will do well at the upcoming World Junior Championships this year, so the sport should get more funding because we have a lot of potential there. -Swimming: Despite not winning any medals, we were close in a couple of events and set some national records as well. In the age category competitions over the past few years we are winning some medals which we rarely used to do in the past, so Greek swimming is definitely on the rise. -Shooting: We didn't win any medals this time and only qualified two shooters, but like swimming we recently started to do well in the age category competitions so it is another sport on the rise in our country. -Weightlifting: We used to be a powerful country in weightlifting. In Atlanta we had 2-3-0 in weightlifting and in Sydney we had 2-2-1. In Athens we just won one bronze and after that everything started to go downhill in the sport (there was also a doping scandal right before Beijing which obviously played a role). Then in London, Rio and Tokyo each time we only had 1 weightlifter when in the past we usually sent very big teams. People in Greece are starting to notice this decline in Greek weightlifting, and we were in danger of not qualifying anyone for the first time since 1964 until our guy (Theodoros Iakovidis) replaced a Colombian weightlifter who had a doping ban. Iakovidis went viral in Greece after his competition where he got 11th, crying on national television about not having any funding. Now he became famous in Greece and went from having a few thousand followers to 220k+ on Instagram. Because of this, a lot of people became interested in him and want to help. We had people who won Olympic medals in the past face similar problems but nobody cared so it's interesting that Iakovidis of all people was the one to capture the public's attention.

I guess this will be the first time since 1964 that Greece doesn't send a weightlifter to the Olympics, unless someone new comes up out of nowhere within the next three years.

Wow that would be a shame. I know in other sports it is an issue in Greece (basketball for example there was the issue with Pitino being chosen as national team coach while he was coaching Panathinaikos), and normally I would agree that they shouldn't do both. However Vlachos gets good results with both teams lately and most of our national team players play for Olympiakos anyways so I think it actually helps that everyone is together all the time.

Both of them have Greek parents so that's very different from countries just buying random athletes with zero connections to the country

I think our gold medal winners Miltiadis Tentoglou (men's long jump) and Stefanos Ntouskos (rowing - men's single sculls) can also shine again in Paris. Tentoglou is 23 and Ntouskos is 24 so at 26 and 27 they should still be at a very high level.

Exactly, another reason why I am proud of Greece because we did everything on our own. The only athlete we had in Tokyo who did not live most of their life in Greece was Stamatia Scarvelis in the women's hammer throw, who is from USA but both of her parents are Greeks. Everyone else was born and lived their whole lives in Greece or came to Greece at very young ages.