Makedonas

FINALLY a medal for Greece! Gold for Elina Tzengko in the women's javelin It was expected that she'd take gold but still nice to see. She had a really bad season so far (although she is WU20L it's still far from her PB) and missed Tokyo by one spot in the end. At least she was able to get gold here as some consolation. Hopefully she can do the same at the World Championships next month. Also she was 4th here in 2019 as a 16 year old so it's nice that she didn't mess up this time around. She has a history of poor performances in important events (also might explain why she started throwing better this year after it seemed unlikely to make it to Tokyo because she no longer had that pressure), but now she has two gold medals (2018 Youth Olympics and now 2021 European U20 Championships) so hopefully this gives her confidence for other big competitions going forward. Also nice for Greece to finally reach the podium here after 4th place finishes in the men's hammer throw and women's 800m.

Or they can be like Greece's men's lightweight four in 2016, last minute replacement for Russia announced one week before the Games, the crew had never been together before (it wasn't all of the same athletes from the qualification regatta, I think just two of them) and they made Final A (finished 6th though)

Apparently two of the Greek sailors had coronavirus. Names weren't given, but it's not hard to figure out that they were Ioannis Mitakis and Vasileia Karachaliou, as all other Greek sailors are already in Tokyo. The news from today is that Mitakis tested negative and will fly to Japan soon (after his negative test they revealed his name). It was also reported that "the other case" (obviously Karachaliou, unless it's some coach or something) will have results tonight and if they are negative they will go to Japan on Monday.

And just like that Elli Deligianni finishes 4th at the European U20 Championships in the women's 800m with a new U20NR of 2:04.11. 2:04.02 got silver and 2:04.08 got bronze, so she was really close to even a medal. And Vasiliki Kallimogianni finishes 11th in the women's 3000 steeplechase. She broke the U20NR in the semifinals and she is just 16 years old. She was the youngest athlete in the final and only two of the 15 girls from the final will be eligible for this category in 2023 at the next European Championships, Kallimogianni and one of the German girls. It's too bad Vasileia Spyrou is injured and not competing here as she also seems to be doing very well. Plus Alkistis Givizini did very well this year and she is also very young. Others like Eleni Ioannidou, Ioanna Panopoulou and Nikoleta Kynatidou seem to have stopped making progress so hopefully the girls I mentioned in this post don't fall into that same trap. Nevertheless these are good signs for Greek athletics. I'm not sure about Paris 2024, but I think in Los Angeles 2028 we will have some representation in these middle/long distance events. At least for the women, as the men's situation still looks poor.

Tzengko safely into the final as expected. It seems like she is our only medal hope left, unless Bouzakis sneaks a medal in the men's discus. Deligianni 4th . Sad to see her miss out on a medal. Just 0.09 seconds separated 2nd from 4th, but she smashed her own U20NR from last year by over one second! So a very good sign and nice that we have a good young athlete in this event because we typically never do well in these middle/long distance events. Sad that Chatzipourgani didn’t make the final, but good that she improved her SB by over a second and got a new PB (from 59.01 to 59.00, lol). Looks like her injuries are past her and hopefully at the World Championships next month she can do much better. Kallimogianni 11th in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, very good considering she was the youngest athlete in the final. She’s just 16 so she’ll get another chance at this category in 2023. Who knows, maybe she can even win a medal then? It will be tough and the German girl who finished 5th will also be back (and I'm sure some other countries probably have good U18 girls coming up too), but it’s a good sign for Greece as we never do well in these distance events like I was saying. Very disappointing that none of our three female shot putters made the final, and some of the others were a bit disappointing today too aside from Mortzakis in the men’s 10km walk who got a new PB.

Who?

I thought it would be a cool idea for people to post some interesting facts/figures about their country’s delegations. I’ll start with Greece By the numbers: 29th Summer Olympic appearance (tied for most of all-time) 83 = athletes in Tokyo (smallest team since Barcelona 1992. We had 93 in Rio 2016) 46 = male athletes in Tokyo (56 in Rio 2016) 37 = female athletes in Tokyo (same amount as Rio 2016) 17 = sports in Tokyo (15 in 2016, 19 in 2012, 22 in 2008) 40 = Olympic debutants in Tokyo 43 = former Olympians in Tokyo 4 = mothers in Tokyo (Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou-pole vault, Paraskevi Papachristou-triple jump, Evangelia Psarra-archery, Emilia Tsoulfa-sailing) 18 = athletes born in 2000 or later 32 = age of oldest Olympic debutant (Polychronis Tzortzakis-cycling) 8 = former Youth Olympics participants 6 = most Olympic appearances (Evangelia Psarra-archery) 4 = former Olympic gold medalists (Anna Korakaki-shooting, Eleftherios Petrounias-gymnastics, Ekaterini Stefanidi-athletics, Emilia Tsoulfa-sailing) 6 = former Olympic medalists (same as above +Pavlos Kagialis-sailing, Panagiotis Mantis-sailing) Athletes with the most Olympic appearances (including Tokyo) : 6: Evangelia Psarra (archery - 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) 5: Panagiotis Gionis (table tennis - 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) 4: Konstantinos Douvalidis (athletics - 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020), Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou (athletics - 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020), Emilia Tsoulfa (sailing - 1996, 2000, 2004, 2020), Christos Volikakis (cycling - 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) Former Olympians who were not in Rio: Periklis Ilias (cycling - 2012, 2020) Nikolaos Mavrommatis (shooting - 2012, 2020) Dimitrios Tsiamis (athletics - 2008, 2020) Emilia Tsoulfa (sailing - 1996, 2000, 2004, 2020) Three youngest Olympians: 1. Krystalenia Gialama (artistic swimming) - 16 years, 11 months 2. Eleni Fragkaki (artistic swimming) - 17 years, 5 months 3. Andriana Misikevych (artistic swimming) - 18 years, 4 months Three oldest Olympians: 1. Emilia Tsoulfa (sailing) - 48 years, 2 months 2. Evangelia Psarra (archery) - 47 years, 1 month 3. Panagiotis Gionis (table tennis) - 41 years, 6 months Siblings: 1. Anneta Kyridou (rowing) and Maria Kyridou (rowing) 2. Stamatia Scarvelis (athletics) and Nicholas Scarvelis (athletics, 2016) 3. Christos Volikakis (cycling) and Zafeiris Volikakis (cycling, 2012) *Those in italics represented Greece but are not in Tokyo. Parents/Children: 1. Maria Sakkari (tennis) and Angeliki Kanellopoulou (tennis, 1984) 2. Kristian Gkolomeev (swimming) and Tsvetan Gkolomeev (swimming, 1980 and 1988) *Those in italics represented Greece but are not in Tokyo. Top cities with the most 2020 Olympians: 1. Athens - too many to count 2. Chania, Crete - 7 3. Thessaloniki, Macedonia - 6 4. Karditsa, Thessaly - 4 5. Heraklion, Crete - 3 *First time since 1996 that no athletes from Corfu (Kerkyra) island are going to the Olympics, and first time since 2000 that no athletes from Kastoria, Macedonia and Veria, Macedonia are going to the Olympics. Athletes born in other countries: Kristian Gkolomeev (swimming) - His family moved to Greece when he was an infant and he lived in Greece his entire life Alexios Ntanatsidis (judo) - Both of his parents are Greeks and he lived in Greece from a very young age Stamatia Scarvelis (athletics) - Both of her parents are Greeks Athletes from Greece but representing other countries: Kristina Alvertsian (athletics) Anna-Maria Alexandri (artistic swimming), Eirini Alexandri (artistic swimming) Sideris Tasiadis (canoeing) [okay he is different from the others because he lived most of his life in Germany but he did live in Greece for 10 years during his childhood so we’ll count him] Afrodite Zegers [nee Kyranakou] (sailing) Stephania Haralabidis (water polo) *All used to compete for Greece except for Tasiadis Athletes that train in Greece but represent other countries: Nikol Merizaj (swimming) Kristina Alvertsian (athletics) Kalia Antoniou (swimming), Nikolaos Antoniou (swimming) Marija Vukovic (athletics) *I didn’t include people who play for Greek clubs in team sports because in water polo for example there would be so many. Biggest teams by sport: Athletics: 20 in 15 events Water Polo: 13 in 1 event Swimming: 12 in 13 events Artistic Swimming: 9 in 2 events Sailing: 8 in 6 events Biggest changes in team size compared to Rio: (-)8: Gymnastics (+)7: Artistic Swimming (-)6: Rowing (-)5: Athletics Events where more than one athlete/team per country is allowed to participate, and the country has reached the maximum quotas: Athletics: women’s 20 km walk (3), women’s pole vault (3) Swimming: men's 200 m freestyle (2), men's 400 m freestyle (2), men’s 800 m freestyle (2), men’s 200 m individual medley (2) First time qualifying in… Rowing women’s pair EVER Swimming mixed relay EVER (new event) Swimming men’s 800 m freestyle EVER (new event) Tennis mixed doubles EVER Artistic swimming team since 2004 Men’s tennis since 2004 Sailing women’s 470 since 2004 Athletics women’s 100 m since 2000 Rowing women’s single sculls since 1996 First time not qualifying in… Heptathlon since 1996 Shot put since 1996 Marathon since 1992 High jump since 1988 Rhythmic gymnastics since 1984 Other interesting facts: -In 2004 (8 and 8), 2008 (2 and 2), 2012 (1 and 1) and 2016 (3 and 3), each time Greece had the same amount of men’s medals as women’s medals. It will be interesting to see if that trend will continue this time, or if one gender will do better than the other in Tokyo. -Our long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou was just 18 in Rio, and he was the youngest of the 103 members of the Greek Olympic team in 2016. Now he is not the youngest, but he is the only member of the Greek Olympic team that actually speaks Japanese. He claims to understand everything but says his speaking isn't perfect although he can converse in Japanese. He learned the language because he is a big fan of Japanese anime. I bet not too many countries can say they have athletes going to Tokyo who can actually speak Japanese, especially someone who is one of their biggest hopes to win gold as Tentoglou is for us. -This is our 11th consecutive Olympic participation in men's water polo. We've never had more than two consecutive participations in any other team sport. -I haven't seen any official lists yet, but it is likely that Greece will have the youngest teams of all countries in the sports of artistic swimming and rowing (based on average age of all athletes per NOC in these two sports). Feel free to add any other interesting facts about your countries’ teams!

1. Athens 2004. Words can't describe how much this meant as only Greeks understand what it felt like during those days. I was young then but have many memories, the best times of my life for sure! The world's attention was on us for two weeks and it was a really special feeling especially because countries of our size are usually too small to host Summer Olympics. Everyone was talking about it and that moment had a big impact on all of our lives. Even my grandmother (RIP, she died shortly after so this was basically my last memory of her before she spent the rest of her life in hospitals) who knew nothing about sport went to some games and was always buying me souvenirs of the mascots (t-shirts, stuffed animals, hats). Our whole country just united for Euro 2004 and a few weeks later we did it again. These were really magical moments for Greece and I am so thankful I got to experience them. I will be telling these stories one day to my grandchildren. That was when my Olympic addiction began. I wouldn't be posting here now if not for that. 2. Gianniotis winning silver at Rio 2016 in the last race of his career. He should've won gold but just to see him end his career with an Olympic medal was so nice. He was so close several times before, and was able to do it a bunch of times at World Championships too. Seeing him cry after finishing 4th in London 2012 was so painful and we didn't know if he would get another chance. But against all odds as a 36 year old he won silver in Rio 2016. He truly saved the best for last and won Greece's first swimming medal in over 100 years! 3. Dimas winning bronze in Athens 2004 in his last competition ever. I know I already said Athens 2004 but this moment needed it's own mention. This guy is a huge legend of Greek sport and of Olympic weightlifting in general. People just have to know his story, where he started from (a small village in the Greek minority zone of southern Albania), and what he went through living as an indigenous ethnic minority under a communist dictatorship, then he broke free and was able to settle in his motherland and then won three golds for us in 1992, 1996, 2000. Then in 2004 at home he was injured and we didn't even know if he would compete and no one expected him to win a medal. Everyone thought he is too old and out of form, and he won a bronze. The standing ovation he got from the crowd was incredible. We celebrated his bronze like a gold and when I watch that video on youtube of the medal ceremony it always brings tears to my eyes. Proud Greek moment for sure!

In that case both girls are Japanese so I don't think the Japanese NOC would refuse those quotas. Greek girl is #35, so she might miss out by one spot in the end. Shame, but she only has herself to blame for choking under pressure after throwing over 60m five times last year as a 17 year old and only being able to do it once when it counted for the rankings...

Only 30 women in the javelin throw and not 32? Yu and Ratej missing Why couldn't they add the 33rd and 34th placed girls? Both are Japanese also, so they'll probably be in Japan anyways Also if it's because they didn't withdraw in time, that's really annoying because Ratej is 39 years old and hasn't competed in two years. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to think that she probably wasn't going to Tokyo

Ntousakis 4th in the men's hammer throw , Emmanouilidou 6th in the women's 100m, and Kessidi 7th in the women's discus Tzengko probably our only chance to win a medal at this point, unless Deligianni can sneak a medal in the women's 800m. She's already in the final. Small chances also for Chatzipourgani (women's 400m hurdles), Dragomirova (women's shot put), and Retsa (women's pole vault), though all of these girls have been disappointing in 2021 so far and not at their best. Overall though I was only expecting 2-3 medals from this Greek team so I'm not going to be too disappointed. Plus we had a bunch of PBs and one U20NR, and I think we'll get a few more PBs and U20NRs tomorrow and Sunday. EDIT-I forgot about Emmanouilidou in the women's 200m. I think she'll make the final and then anything is possible from there but I don't think she'll win a medal. Hopefully I'm wrong about that.

He's lost all five of his outdoor hard court finals, but they were against Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Zverev and Thiem. Of these, only Djokovic and Zverev are going to Tokyo. Medvedev is also going to Tokyo of course.

He made semifinals at two of the last three Australian Opens and also made the final of Toronto (beating 4 top 10 players in the tournament) and semifinals of Cincinnati and Shanghai masters tournaments Also had good results making finals of Dubai twice and Acapulco, Beijing

Decent first day for Greece. 16 year old Vasiliki Kallimogianni with a big PB and new U20NR in 3000m steeplechase. Greeks are usually very poor at middle and long distance events, so having her is a really nice surprise and she's still so young. Hoping for a new U20NR in the final. A medal seems unlikely but she'll be back in 2023 and can win a medal then. Polyniki Emmanouilidou making the final of the women's 100m is also very good, and she got a new PB (11.55). She'll still be in this category next year so I think then she can possibly break Thanou's U20NR but we'll see. Konstantinos Gennikis 7th in men's shot put with PB, very good for him. Elli Deligianni now into the semifinals of the women's 800. As I said, Greece is historically poor at these distances so that's good for her and hopefully in the final she'll achieve a new PB (she was very close today) which would also be a new U20NR. Anastasia Antonopoulou 13th in women's 10km walk. Considering she's only 16 and this was her first race back from injury, that's a pretty good result. Hope she can come back and get a medal at this event in 2023. Women's pole vault we had our 16 year old talent Iliana Triantafyllou just miss out on the final because of countback. Disappointing but she will have other chances in the future and our 17 year old Anastasia Retsa made the final. Really nice to have all these 16 and 17 year olds doing so well at U20 this year. It's too bad the U18 championships were cancelled because I think we would've won some medals there for sure. Disappointing that only one of our male hammer throwers made the final, considering we had four with the standard (obviously only three could compete). But I think he (Orestis Ntousakis) has a chance to win a medal. Also very disappointing that Despina Filippidou didn't make the final in the women's discus. She threw over 55m less than two weeks ago so I thought maybe she could win a medal here. Our other girl Sofia Kessidi made the final at least. Happy Andreas Antonakopoulos (men's long jump) and Sotiria Rapti (women's triple jump) also qualified for finals and I don't think they can get medals but would be nice if they could get new PBs. Rapti is another 17 year old.

Yes because of Zika, but I don't remember too many people withdrawing. I remember Halep and Cibulkova.

This didn't really happen in Beijing, London, or Rio though

You seriously think these three are more safe than Petrounias?! Tennis is unpredictable, shooting is even more unpredictable, and Stefanidi has struggled post-pandemic. I would say 1. Petrounias (gymnastics) 2. Tentoglou (long jump) 3. Tsitsipas (tennis)

https://twitter.com/vika7/status/1415688683076923394/photo/1 Azarenka out

Athletes with origins representing other countries in Tokyo (there may be more but so far this is what I know): Anna-Maria Alexandri (artistic swimming) - Born and raised in Greece, moved to Austria at age 15. Previously competed for Greece. Eirini-Marina Alexandri (artistic swimming) - Same as above, they are triplet sisters (the other sister also competes but not going to the Olympics) Kristina Alvertsian (athletics) - She has distant Armenian roots but was born and raised in Greece and recently started competing for Armenia three weeks ago (she got the universality place so obviously she wouldn't have qualified if she still competed for Greece). Stephania Haralabidis (water polo) - She was born and raised in Greece and her father played for the Greek men's national team, and she also played for the Greek national team until 2015. She lived in USA since 2013 (university) and stayed and began competing for USA in 2018, although after she got Greek citizenship she came back to Greece to play club water polo. I guess she only cares about Greece when it's convenient for her, sad. Helen Maroulis (wrestling) - Greek father and she sometimes competes in Greece. In the town where her grandparents live in Greece, they named the main square after Helen after she won gold in Rio. Alexander Massialas (fencing) - Greek father and Taiwanese mother Sabrina Massialas (fencing) - Same as above Nefeli Papadakis (judo) - Greek father and Filipino mother. She trains in Greece sometimes. Sideris Tasiadis (canoeing) - Has Greek parents and lived in Greece for 10 years during his childhood. Elena Vesnina (tennis) - Greek maternal grandfather Afrodite Zegers (sailing) - Born and raised in Greece but moved to the Netherlands some years ago and is married to a Dutch guy.

Apparently the source I saw that on was wrong and he was born in Cyprus and not Georgia

Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth closed when you don't have anything nice to say...

I love how she is referring to Tokyo as her "second Olympic participation" In that case, I hope she gets her "second" Olympic medal

Football and the Olympics both came home in 2004

Greece held Eurovision, UEFA Euro and Eurobasket all at the same time in 2004-05, so you still have more work to do if you want to be on our level