Makedonas

I'm still feeling very good about these Games despite only winning 3 medals so far. I think men's water polo, Stefanidi and Prevolaraki are all very good medal chances as well as smaller chances for Volikakis, Kynigakis, Kyriakopoulou, Pilidis... The biggest highlight from Tokyo for me has been seeing how many good young athletes we have which makes me confident for the future. Ntouskos (24) and Tentoglou (23) winning gold medals is really great, and I expect to see them both back in Paris which would also be very nice. If they can stay healthy then I think they can take medals there as well. Karalis (21) coming 4th in the men's pole vault was a nice surprise. It looks like he is finally in the right direction again and I'm excited about his future. Bourmpou (20) and Kyridou (20) finishing 5th in the women's pair in rowing was also an incredible result for their ages, and I think they can also perhaps win a medal in Paris. Sakkari (26) and Tsitsipas (22) maybe didn't win medals, but in total we won 5 matches in tennis after not being represented in the sport since 2008 (and not winning any matches since 2004), so it was still a positive showing and I think in 2024 they will do even better. Teltsidou (25) finishing 7th in judo was a pleasant surprise, and I hope this gives her the confidence to take the next step in her career and start to become a medal contender in future competitions. Korakaki (25) finishing 6th in both shooting events is a tremendous accomplishment even if she won two medals in 2016. In a sport like shooting where age isn't so important, she will obviously be around for at least another 5-6 Olympics and I think it is fair to expect more medals from her. Karachaliou (24) finishing 9th in sailing was not bad for her first Olympics and I think we will see her in Paris, Los Angeles and maybe Brisbane. Ntountounaki (25) 9th in women's 100m butterfly. Best result from a Greek female swimmer since 2004. She seems like a late bloomer and hopefully she can keep improving and make the final in 2024. Same goes for Christou (24) in the men's 100m backstroke who was 11th. A.Kyridou (22) finishing 10th in the women's single sculls is also very good for her age. Everyone else who finished above her was 6+ years older than her. I think she can also win a medal in Paris, regardless of whether she competes in the single sculls or not (probably it is more likely for her to change categories). Tzeli (19) finishing 7th in taekwondo was also good even though she didn't win any matches. I liked what I saw from her and the fact that she qualified is very positive and a good sign for the future. Gkountoura (24) was disappointing that she lost so early in fencing but like Tzeli, I think she has a good future ahead of her. In field events, Scarvelis (25) and Polak (24) I think can do even better in Paris and make the finals in their events. Same goes for Anastasakis (26) and Frantzeskakis (21). Papastamos (20) had the second-best time of his career in the men's 400 IM and finished 14th. In Paris I think he can make the final. Divari (21) and Spanaki (20) in sailing didn't do so well but both are very young so it's okay. Same with Markos (19) in swimming. Obviously there are other young athletes like Pilidis, Kynigakis, Filtisakou and those on the men's water polo team who did not compete or did not finish yet. Also it's very nice that a lot of our older athletes like Psarra, Douvalidis, Kokkalanis, Tsiamis, Filippidis etc. showed a desire to continue to Paris. I think we can have a big team in Paris, maybe even 150+ if rowing goes well and we make it in more team sports (women's water polo, men's basketball, maybe women's basketball). Also Gkolomeev and Petrounias both expressed desire to win medals in Paris which is nice that they want to still compete at a high level.

Yeah I'm pretty confused about these new classes. Greece qualified 8 sailors for Tokyo and only one of them (Karachaliou in women's laser radial) will be able to make it to Paris without changes. Finn is done so I guess our athlete there (Mitakis) is done after three Olympics. I don't think at his age he will change classes. We had a men's 470 team and a women's 470 team, I guess we SHOULD qualify a mixed 470 team but stinks to only have two 470 athletes instead of four. I wonder if some our two 470 girls who won the quota but weren't selected will change to 49er or something. And our two RS:X athletes both said they will try to switch to foil, but it's pretty difficult especially for Kokkalanis who is already 35 and turning 36 in two weeks...

Karalis doped of course. That's the only way how he could possibly improve from 5.65 to 5.80 in less than one month.

Karalis also skipped 5.70m at the U23 and only had one attempt at 5.75 before trying for 5.80

If we beat Montenegro, it would be our second Olympic semifinal ever (we got 4th in 2004) At the World Championships, we've finished top 8 each of our last 10 appearances, but only made four semifinals (2003, 2005, 2015, 2017) and won two bronze medals (2005 and 2015) At the European Championships, we've had 13 top 8 finishes, but only two semifinals (1999 and 2016), and zero medals We have underachieved so much. Most of our players play for Olympiacos who won the Champions League for 2017-18 and got runner-up in 2018-19. We also have Fountoulis who played for Ferencvaros this year (runner-up) and Vlachopoulos for Brescia (third place). Nikolaidis (who didn't get called up) also plays for Brescia. And Papanastasiou plays for Jug Dubrovnik (5th place). We also have a lot of good young players, we won gold at four recent championships (2017 World U20, 2018 World U18, 2018 Euro U19, 2019 World U20). Some guys like Papanastasiou, Gkiouvetsis, Skoumpakis are here in Tokyo and were on some of those teams. I think Zerdevas (our main goalkeeper) too. I really think we have a very good team this year and this is a big chance to make SF and get a medal. I hope we don't mess it up. There is no reason why we should not be contending for medals at every major championships with the players we have!

So Karalis 4th in PV with 5.80 and Baehre 11th with 5.70... Hey @OlympicsFan, remember at the European U23s last month when you said Karalis only won silver because Mondo and Baehre weren't there? And that Karalis would not have won a medal if they went?

He is a native Greek speaker. I'm not sure about his education, perhaps he went to American schools of Greece and maybe he grew up speaking English at home as his mother is not Greek, but he was born in Greece, has a Greek father, lived in Greece his entire life and in interviews he speaks Greek perfectly.

This is correct. Greek is his native language and he lived his entire life in Greece.

Improvement from Mantis/Kagialis but not enough. They're now 6th with just the medal race to go. I was hoping they'd be able to win another medal after bronze in 2016 but I guess not. Too bad Looks like their bronze from 2016 will be the only Greek sailing medal from the last three Olympics combined. Pretty disappointing but I'm still somewhat optimistic about the future of Greek sailing.

Theodoros Iakovidis (weightlifting) announced his retirement after finishing 11th in Tokyo. This was his second Olympics after also being in Rio. However this might not be the end of his career. He was crying in an interview about not having money/support which went viral in Greece and now he is suddenly famous with 200k+ followers on Instagram, more than double Ntouskos and Tentoglou (who both won gold medals for us this year) combined. So maybe now he will get more support and be able to continue his career?

Hungary The whole world is cheering for you. Go win that medal!

Now three other team members have tested positive. Greece withdrawn from all artistic swimming events. I am heartbroken for our girls. I don't know if some of them will ever get the chance to make it to the Olympics again. 6 of our 9 girls are teenagers (and two of the other three competed at previous Games), but I don't know if we can qualify for the team again...we barely qualified this time and that was with Japan getting the host spot...

Never mind, everyone is now withdrawn from both the duet and team events after multiple Greek artistic swimmers tested positive despite no symptoms. I guess it was the wrong decision to bring Platanioti to Tokyo even after her two negative tests. So sad for our girls. They only qualified because of Japan getting the host spot. I don't think we will ever get another chance

Sad to see Tsiamis retire after a foul on the first jump. I guess his injury is still bothering him. At 39 I wonder if this is the end for him. He could've achieved so much more, but happy that in the last few years of his career he won his first European Championships medal and then now made it back to the Olympics after his previous appearance was Beijing 2008. Also probably the last race of Irini Vasiliou, she said last year she would stop after Tokyo. However I wonder if Paris now being only three years away will make her change her mind. She is still only 31. And too bad Tzengko narrowly missed qualifying in the women's javelin. She totally could've made the final, and from there anything is possible...

Also Masso only once in his career jumped above 8.35 and never above 8.40. Yes it was sad that he got injured but it's not like he was definitely going to beat Tentoglou's 8.41 when he has never done that in his entire life. Tentoglou has been the most consistent long jumper in the world the past few years and he is still young and has a big career ahead of himself. He has consistently been jumping 8.30-8.40 for a few years now and this year he finally is starting to do bigger jumps now. Just because he is shy and keeps a low profile and doesn't care to be famous and annoying doesn't mean we should discredit him.

Please tell me which were the joke events? The Greek National Championships are a joke event? And the jumps meeting in Kallithea which attracts many international big name competitors? You act like Greece is Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan. If our measurements are "more than doubtful" then we must be really bad at faking results to not fix it so Spyridoula Karydi and Elina Tzengko would've qualified as well. And if you don't like his style then that's your problem. He is from parkour and switched to long jump after his talent was discovered so maybe his technique isn't so natural but it works. Also he doesn't normally show emotions or have big reactions so that is why a lot of people thought that his 8.48 and 8.60 earlier this year were not legit. Not everyone is the same and is going to be jumping up and down like crazy celebrating a big result. Even last night you could see in his final he wasn't showing much emotion even after he won gold, because he is shy. Nothing wrong with that. He was even saying in interviews how upset he was to only get 8.41 and how his jumps were so bad in the final. He knows he can do much better.

2/3 Greeks through to women's pole vault final. Really hope we can win a medal but will be tough...

Yes, I agree. I knew it would be tough to win gold but really didn't expect him to win less than silver. I also thought his performance was very good and was surprised with the 15.200. Anyways a medal is still good and I guess there's not much difference between silver and bronze for him. After everything he went through and almost didn't qualify for Tokyo, we should not complain.

Well... 1. So far we have 3 men's medals and 0 women's medals. I think it's not possible for the women to catch up to the men at this point. We might not even have any women's medals for the first time since 1988... 2. He did win gold!

Only bronze for Petrounias Didn't think it was possible for him to get worse than silver... I guess @thiago_simoes will be happy about this...

I am not either. We look good this year, however, we always choke and underachieve. We never win in quarterfinals so I would not be surprised if we lose...

Do you ever have anything nice to say about anyone, ever? Serious question. Also Tentoglou not only had WL but before the 6th jump, this was his worst competition of the entire season and even that shows how good he is to have been 5th at that point. Yes it wasn't such a strong final and some others were injured, but also 8.41 is the longest jump in an Olympic final since 2004, and here we had not one but TWO medalists jump 8.41m. Also prior to Tokyo, Tentoglou had the two biggest jumps in the world this year (8.60 and 8.48). So if you consider this to be a "very sad result" then what do you think about the men's long jump finals in Beijing, London, Rio? 8.41 there would've won gold too.

I know in Athens 2004, Fani Halkia broke OR in 400m hurdles semifinal

So sad for Djokovic And of course for Stojanovic as well...

I'm not sure, Italy could've possibly finished first in the group if they won against Hungary (as I'm sure they didn't expect us to beat USA by such a big margin) and then played against Montenegro in the quarterfinals. Instead, we will be the ones to face MNE.