Makedonas

So the 5th, 6th, 7th place finishers at 2019 WCH in men's single sculls will all be out. And 9th place finisher Simone Martini seems to be in horrible form. Looks like are favourites for the podium, with also having decent chances.

Kynigakis was 13th at the 2019 World Championships, really hope he can find a way to qualify here. Would be a shame for Greece to have no one to continue Gianniotis' legacy.

@YannakisWe currently have 62 athletes according to wikipedia. That is including tennis, although apparently we will lose the weightlifting quota due to a doping violation. However, it seems that we will get a spot in karate after all (Eleni Chatziliadou) and judo from Ntanatsidis and Teltsidou. So that's 64 athletes. Douvalidis, Filippidis, Karalis, Anastasakis, Frantzeskakis, Spanoudaki, S.Scarvelis, Tsinopoulou, and Filtisakou all look 95% certain to qualify via ranking in athletics, so that would bring the total up to 73. We still have Petrounias, basketball, beach volleyball, and open water swimming. Also hoping for some others in athletics. Pesiridou, Anagnostopoulou, and Tsiamis are currently in qualifying positions but I'm not sure if they can hold onto their rankings. Baniotis, N.Scarvelis, Vasiliou, Zakka, Gousin all still trying to make it via ranking but I'm not sure how likely it is. Maybe we can get some OST in swimming too. Also I think Pantazis, Tzengko, and Karydi have chances in athletics to make it if they reach the entry standards. Especially the latter two. Tzengko's PB is 63.96 and the standard is 64.00. Karydi's is 14.19 and the standard is 14.32. Both girls are super young (Tzengko born 2002 and Karydi born 2001) so they should improve these but they are also running out of time. Unfortunately it seems we will miss out in weightlifting for the first time since 1964, rhythmic gymnastics for the first time since 1984, and archery for the first time since 1996. There were definitely some surprises. Who could've predicted two years ago that Araouzou and Belibasaki would miss out?! Also we had 10 rowers in London and Rio, only 4 here (no Asoumanaki/Nikolaidou who got 4th in Rio as the youngest team in the event, both are injured). We had 9 or more gymnasts at every Olympics since 1996 I think, and so far we have zero qualified. Also we had some young athletes in Rio that I thought would continue to improve and qualify for Tokyo again, such as Kontochristopoulou in fencing, N.Scarvelis, Pappas, and Alexouli in athletics, Filiou in rhythmic gymnastics, a bunch of the rowers, Dimitriou in swimming...some of them either declined or retired. In Pappas' case, she changed events to the marathon and started doing well and then disappeared after covid. Maybe she got pregnant?

Wow, incredible that we aren't sending anyone. We just sent a full team to the European qualifiers. Sad that Psarra isn't getting one last chance to make it to her sixth consecutive Olympics. She had only a very small chance anyways, but after this it seems like Greek archery is dead. This is the final nail in the coffin. A shame because I actually like the sport

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQF9lUWpeS2/ Looks like she hasn't heard anything from WKF

Probably funding issues but also a lack of interest in the sport. Our legend Evangelia Psarra competed at the last 5 Olympics, however she has regressed a lot as she is getting older so I don't expect her to qualify this time around. And there's really no one else after her it seems. We had a girl at the 2010 Youth Olympics who won a medal in a mixed team event, but she seems to have disappeared. Aside from Psarra, Elpida Romantzi is our only archer to have qualified for the Olympics in recent memory (excluding Athens 2004 of course). Romantzi reached the round of 16 in Beijing and seems to have retired after. A shame because she was only 27 years old in Beijing. Psarra competed in Rio at age 42. Romantzi is 39 now, turning 40 next month.

Maria Belibasaki (athletics - 200m/400m) She competed in London and Rio in 200m. In 2018 she switched to 400m and immediately had success, winning silver at the European Championships (probably should've won gold but lost it in the last second) and smashed the NR. Unfortunately she has only competed in three races since then as she is always injured. Hope she can make it to Paris because she definitely would've made the semifinals in Tokyo and possibly even the final.

Unless there is some miracle, it will be the first time Greece is not represented in archery at the Olympics since 1996. It's already going to be the first time since 1964 that we won't be represented in weightlifting, and first time since 1984 that we won't be represented in rhythmic gymnastics. Not to mention our men's water polo team almost didn't qualify for the first time since 1976. So embarrassing to see our decline.

I am very proud of Stefanos. His blind grandmother died today also, so sad. She used to always say that she wished she could be able to watch him play. I remember the Greek media interviewed her a few years ago.

Thank you. I'm very glad to hear that! I saw a Greek sports site talking about her possibly getting a wildcard but thought maybe it was an error on their part. She was so unlucky with injuries during the past two years (she was almost certain to qualify by ranking before getting injured), and her boyfriend is our best boxer who was one win away from qualifying for Tokyo, then covid hit and he had to wait 15 months for the qualifying tournament to resume, and by then he was in hospital getting surgery and had to withdraw. So it would be really nice if one of them can make it!

Props to Liechtenstein for having home-grown athletes in this event, while Austria still uses the Greek sisters lol (yes I know they have been living in Austria since they were 15)

^Unless Iakovidis gets in somehow (he's currently missing out by one spot), it will be the first time since 1964 that Greece didn't qualify any weightlifter, because Konstantina Benteli has tested positive for a banned substance and will be out of Tokyo

Heartbreaking for Chatziliadou to miss out She won medals at the last two World Championships and last three European Championships and is the reigning world champion. Really a shame.

Kalliopi Araouzou (swimming) Not a big surprise because she was at the European Championships as a board member of the Greek swimming federation and not as an athlete, but she still competed until today which was her last race at the National Championships. She also struggled with injuries the past few years. I honestly thought she would try to qualify in open water for Tokyo but I guess not. She competed in Rio in that event and finished 11th. That was her only Olympic appearance. She had two World Championship medals in open water (silver in team from 2013 and silver in 5km from 2015). She was a big part of Greek women's swimming (which the level is already quite low) for the past decade, and it's surprising that she only managed to go to the Olympics once. She also had OST for Tokyo in 800 and 1500 freestyle but I guess she's not going to try to see if she'll get in or not. In 1500, OQT is 16:32.04 and OST is 17:01.80. She has 16:34.49 from 2019 so she was really close. Maybe she knew that there wouldn't be a spot for her in Tokyo via OST because so many people already achieved OQT in her event (I'm not too familiar with swimming qualifying procedures). Greek women's swimming is really dead. We had 7 athletes in Beijing, 6 in London, 4 in Rio and now probably just 2 in Tokyo

First time since 1984 that no Greeks in rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics

Women's standard is 51,35 though

First time since 1964 that Greece didn't qualify any male weightlifter

I hope I am not saying this for Eleni Chatziliadou this weekend but I have a bad feeling

So Konstantina Benteli qualified, very good. Would've been so sad if we didn't qualify anyone in weightlifting! Theodoros Iakovidis is one spot out, I guess if they ban Colombia then he gets to go. EDIT-Actually no, he would still miss because the European continental quota wouldn't change

And formerly of Panionios and Olympiacos

I really hope Eleni Kelaiditi can make it! It would be the first time since 1988 that Greece isn't qualifying anyone in rhythmic gymnastics (usually the group always makes it but they won't this year)

I don't know who I want to win this semifinal, I think I just hope for a long 5 sets so they get tired

Wow so it's official! So wonderful! Our girls really worked so hard and they're all so young. 5 of the 8 girls are teenagers, so hopefully this is the beginning of many more qualifications in the future. It was disappointing to not qualify in women's water polo, and our women's rhythmic gymnastics team 99% won't qualify for the first time since Atlanta 1996, so this is a very nice thing for our women to make it.

I thought it doesn't start for another 3 minutes, maybe I got the time mixed up?

Thank you @MHSN for sharing all of your knowledge about some of these sports, also weightlifting. Makes it a lot easier for us to understand these qualification processes.