Makedonas

Does that mean Greece will qualify in 96kg?

Exactly my thoughts about Anna Korakaki's recent struggles. Shooting is such an unpredictable sport, often with random results. It's very difficult to win medals consistently so better to struggle at World Cup events than in the Olympics.

Assuming we don't qualify in men's basketball (which would add the Antetokounmpo brothers and Calathes to this list), or more tennis players, here is the official Greek team for 2020 with origins from other countries. Everyone on this list was born in Greece unless I say otherwise. We don't have any suspicious naturalizations like some other countries do, which is something I'm proud of because everyone who represents us actually was born and/or raised in our country (with the exception of Stamatia Scarvelis who has two Greek parents so she has the ancestral connection). Artistic Swimming: Maria Alzigkouzi Kominea - father Andriana Misikevych - origins, not sure where she was born or any details like that Athletics: Konstantinos Douvalidis - father (uses mother's surname) Emmanouil Karalis - mother Eleni Polak - father and mother Stamatia Scarvelis - born in to Greek parents Judo: Alexios Ntanatsidis - born in to Greek parents and moved to Greece at 4 years old Rowing: Christina Bourmpou - mother Sailing: Byron Kokkalanis - mother Swimming: Kristian Gkolomeev - born in but moved to Greece as an infant Tennis: Stefanos Tsitsipas - mother

I'm not surprised Tsitsipas lost. He played a lot lately so he clearly needs a break, and Tiafoe is a good opponent. Tsitsipas also hasn't really proven himself on grass courts yet. Sakkari won easily 6-1 6-1 in 51 minutes. I hope she can go far here. Also Serena Williams retired during her first round match so that's another big name on the WTA side out. I'm sure the semifinals will be something random as always like Kontaveit vs Putintseva and Pegula vs Martic

For Greece we have 4 confirmed so far. In addition to gold medalists Christina Bourmpou (rowing) and Maria Kyridou (rowing) and bronze medalist Fani Tzeli (taekwondo), we also have 5th placed Katerina Divari (sailing). Gold medalist Elina Tzengko (javelin throw) will go up in the Road to Tokyo rankings and will be close but will need 3-4 withdrawals or so in order to make it to Tokyo. From our 2010 YOG team, we have Alexios Ntanatsidis (judo) making his Olympic debut in Tokyo, while Panagiotis Samilidis (swimming) won't be in Tokyo but was in London and Rio. From our 2014 YOG team, we have Theodora Gkountoura (fencing) making her Olympic debut in Tokyo, with silver medalist Apostolos Christou (swimming) and Anna Korakaki (shooting) going to Tokyo after making their Olympic debuts in Rio. Aikaterini Kontochristopoulou (fencing) won't be in Tokyo but she was in Rio. So in Tokyo it seems that we will have 4 athletes from the 2018 Youth Olympics and 8 athletes total from any Youth Olympics.

Here is the team, they are leaving tomorrow for Tokyo which is very early.

I read on a Greek sports site that Stefanos Tsitsipas said he might play doubles at the Olympics with his brother, and that Maria Sakkari might play with Valentini Grammatikopoulou or Despina Papamichail. The reason given was that if the quotas per gender (86 I think) are met in tennis, then countries with singles players that don't have doubles players will get to use one of their singles players and invite a doubles player to come, rather than have other countries bringing two new doubles players and increasing the athlete quotas. I don't know how accurate this is and even the article said that we won't know for certain until tomorrow, but the Greek tennis federation is hoping that we can get this and they are preparing in case it happens.

I guess everything will be more clear tomorrow when the official lists come out. Apparently as there have been a lot of withdrawals, Greece is hoping to get in for men's doubles and women's doubles. At least that is the rumour. I'll believe it when I see it.

I can't believe that Elina Tzengko isn't going to the meet in Switzerland today (women's javelin). She could probably book a place to Tokyo with a throw around 60m (she just did 61.42 on Saturday). I know she's only 18 and will have more chances in the future but she really could've made it. She had so many throws last year above 60m (including 63.96, 0.04 cm below the standard) which obviously didn't count in the rankings. Such a wasted opportunity. Also the Greek team was announced for the U23 European Championships and she's not there either, but she'll be at the U20 European Championships. I know this is off-topic but are U20 athletes not allowed at the U23 European Championships in athletics? I thought she could go and she has a higher SB than anyone else in Europe for both U23 and U20, so you would think she'd go to both events as she'd be favourite to win gold at both.

Please show me where in the post which you quoted did I say anything about Australia. Also my past comments in this topic are about the qualification system as a whole. It is a bit unfair (in my opinion, feel free to disagree) that certain countries automatically qualify just because of their geographic location without having to swim a single metre to earn it. South Africa will lose every game by 20+ goals, mark my words. My issue is not with any other country or team but more with the qualification system as a whole in women's water polo. I don't have any "anti-non European" feelings in my heart. Perhaps you would have a different opinion on this qualification system if your country won gold at the World Championships and did not make it to the Olympics the next year (which happened to Greece in women's water polo London 2012). So yes, I am bitter about that and I have every right to be.

Is there anywhere we can see entries for those events or we have to wait?

I was thinking the same thing! It's so depressing that the qualifying period is coming to an end. In a way I like it more than the actual Games itself

Congratulations to our Serbian friends! Sorry for France, I hope your girls can win a medal in Tokyo as some consolation. I love both countries!

Our team now has 69 athletes (including Filtisakou and Tsinopoulou who haven't officially qualified but there are no more competitions in the women's 20km walk so I guess their ranking places are secured). In athletics it looks like Douvalidis, Anastasakis, Filippidis, Karalis, S.Scarvelis, Spanoudaki, Pesiridou, and Anagnostopoulou will all get in. Frantzeskakis and Tsiamis also will probably get in but it's still unclear. Tzengko has some chances too. Disappointing that some like N.Scarvelis, Baniotis, Vasiliou, Karydi will all not qualify, plus obviously Belibasaki who has been injured for most of the last two years. Scarvelis threw over 21m last year but of course it didn't count for the ranking, and this year he hasn't been in form. Baniotis I never thought wouldn't make it after he won silver at the 2019 European indoors but injuries + age have caught up to him. Vasiliou looked great in the winter season but hasn't done well enough outdoors this year unfortunately. Really a shame especially since she DNS in the final of the 2019 national championships where she definitely would've won gold which would've given her the additional 100 placement points and she would've probably qualified for Tokyo via ranking. Still she needed to do better this outdoor season and she didn't. And Karydi's ranking will be well within the top 32 but more than 32 athletes achieved the standard in her event and she came close but couldn't do it. It's disappointing but she's only 20 so I'm sure we'll see her in Paris. We also might get another 1-2 in swimming with OST just like in 2016 when we got Dimitriou and Vourna in that way. So we'll see. And you never know, maybe the men's basketball team will surprise us and manage to qualify somehow. If not, then our team will probably have about 78-82 members or so in the end. Our smallest since Barcelona 1992 but it's a very young team so hopefully in Paris we can go back to having 100+.

Is it safe to say Christos Frantzeskakis will make it in the men's hammer throw? He's currently 32 in Road to Tokyo but will be 33 when they update it now that Lomnicky achieved the standard. However there are three ANA athletes above Frantzeskakis, surely they won't all be allowed to compete, right? Can anyone confirm this info? Thanks.

I'd like to see New York host one day, that would be pretty cool. But of course my answer is Athens, Athens, and Athens. Maybe a Thessaloniki/Mount Olympus Winter Olympics also

Two fourth place finishes for Greece, no medals

Women's High Jump Marija Vukovic - 1.97m Balkan Athletics Championships She was already awarded a universality place and would've qualified by ranking regardless, but nice for her to make the standard. She lives in Greece because she has a Greek coach so I'll be cheering for her in Tokyo as it seems our two good female high jumpers will narrowly miss qualification this time around.

I don't think that's the issue for her. She won four gold medals already so I think she cares about the Olympics, but this year is different. Also she is a mother now and wants to be with her daughter which I don't think is possible at the Olympics due to covid protocols. Plus Tokyo is out of the way for her when she wants to probably focus on the US Open and try to win another Grand Slam before she retires. Also she had some injuries recently.

Looks like Armenia is really trying to build their team and get their diaspora athletes to compete for them. I've noticed that Allison Halverson (heptathlon) and Kristina Alvertsian (triple jump) both now compete for Armenia. Halverson has posts about being Armenian on her instagram, so I guess her mother is Armenian? And Alvertsian obviously has an Armenian surname. There might be others too, but these are the only two that I saw so far.

Elisavet Pesiridou will probably make it in the women's 100 hurdles. She is currently 42nd with 1204 points (40th has 1205 points) but she just won the Balkan Championships with 13.06, so she'll now move up a lot in the rankings (probably to 35 or so). I know it's not a big deal for others but really happy for her. She was injured the past few weeks and missed some meets she was scheduled to take part in, and even her participation in the Balkan Championships was uncertain. So for her to win with a SB and (99% sure) book her ticket to Tokyo is really great considering her injury situation which came at a bad time, and the fact that a few days ago we didn't even know if she would get the chance to make it to Tokyo. Also in 2019 she made the decision to skip the World Championships (even though she qualified) because she was tired from the long season, so I'm glad that the strange decision she made back then didn't ruin her Olympic chances in the end.

I played tennis for many years. I think I'd be able to avoid a golden set if facing a top 100 player. Maybe I could win two or three points in the set, LOL.

So you prefer for athletes to cheat than to have the current rules with rankings? Seriously?!

Very sad, he led Greece and Greek teams to many European titles! He is 39 years old so it's not surprising. He wanted to retire after Tokyo but unfortunately he got injured so he was going to miss it anyways and decided to retire from now I guess. He will be missed! I thank him for all of the memories he gave us.

It's going to be so annoying for athletes from other countries who would've made it if not for these universality places taking up spots from the rankings. There are a bunch of Greeks who are borderline right now, so if any of them miss out because of these universality places, I'm going to be so angry. Also it looks like World Athletics is starting to remove injured athletes from the Road to Tokyo lists. I noticed in the women's 100 hurdles that the two Germans (Dutkiewicz and Roleder) are no longer listed. Koleczek from Poland is still listed for now. I haven't checked other events.