Makedonas

Another European final for Olympiacos' women. The entire team is Greek. They always do so well but our national team (with basically the same players) can't qualify for the Olympics since 2008. Very frustrating!

Our women's 4 x 400 would've had a chance to qualify for Tokyo. Unfortunately our federation decided to not send them!

Okay thank you so much for this. I know nothing about diving so I really appreciate your comments!

Athletics is interesting. Currently we have three in women's pole vault (Stefanidi, Kyriakopoulou, Polak), one in men's long jump (Tentoglou), women's triple jump (Papachristou), and women's 20km walk (Drisbioti). If we look at the rankings/Road to Tokyo, Douvalidis, Papamichail, Anastasakis, Frantzeskakis, Filippidis, Karalis and Tsiamis will all qualify from the men. I think Baniotis, Scarvelis, and Zikos also have decent chances. Baniotis has been injured and if he's healthy he shouldn't have a problem improving his ranking. Scarvelis had a big throw last year which didn't count for the rankings of course, and Zikos has done well in 60m and needs to replicate that in 100m to improve his ranking. For the women, it looks like we will get three quotas in the 20km walk (Tsinopoulou and either Filtisakou or Papadopoulou in addition to Drisbioti). Also in qualifying positions right now are Anagnostopoulou, Scarvelis, Vasiliou, Pesiridou, and Spanoudaki. Belibasaki and Tzengko will surely qualify by entry standard if healthy (they currently don't have rankings because they didn't compete in enough events). Karydi also has a really good chance, either in the triple jump or long jump or both. And I wouldn't count out Pappas in the marathon, or one of our female high jumpers (Zakka or Gusin) or Kolokytha in the long jump. Our women's 4x400 team could be very good but they never have a full squad with both Belibasaki and Vasiliou in unfortunately, and they won't compete at the world relays either. There are some girls who in 2016 I thought for sure would qualify for Tokyo. Iliana Korosidou, Anastasia Marinakou, Konstantina Romaiou, Tatiana Gusin, Panagiota Dosi, Dimitra Gnafaki, Haido Alexouli. Sadly many of these girls struggled in recent years. Also last time we had three female marathon runners in Rio, but now the standard is so difficult... In the end, I think our Tokyo 2020 athletics team will look something like this: Men: Douvalidis, Papamichail, Tentoglou, Filippidis, Karalis, Anastasakis, Frantzeskakis, Scarvelis, Tsiamis...maybe Baniotis or Zikos too. Women: Spanoudaki, Belibasaki, Vasiliou, Pesiridou, Drisbioti, Tsinopoulou, Filtisakou, Stefanidi, Polak, Kyriakopoulou, Papachristou, Tzengko, Scarvelis, Anagnostopoulou...maybe Karydi or Zakka too. I don't expect the others like Kolokytha, Zikos, Pappas etc to qualify at this point but I hope I am wrong.

Teltsidou and Ntanatsidis will probably qualify in judo, and we have a good chance in artistic swimming for the team (in addition to the duet). Chatziliadou in karate would be one of our best chances for a medal if she can qualify. Men's basketball I think is 50/50. Let's not forget boxing we have a few chances with Pita and Tsanikidis mostly.

What about Greek chances? Thank you.

Does anyone who knows about diving think Greece has chances for quotas? I guess Molvalis would be our best hope?

Kokkalanis won bronze! In the women's event, our young athlete Katerina Divari got 15th. A good position for her at her age. She is only 21.

My updated predictions for Greece Archery: 0-1 (Evangelia Psarra is probably our only chance, it would be her 6th Olympic appearance but she is old now so I don't know) Artistic Swimming: 2-8 (We will definitely qualify in the duet. Team is 50/50) Athletics: 23-35 (We currently have 6 and there are many more who I'm 99% sure will make it off ranking, some others if they improve this year can make it and also hoping for a women's 4x400. We have many good young athletes that might not be ready for Tokyo but in Paris I expect a big team) Badminton: 0 Baseball: 0 of course (but our former national team player Nick Markakis was an MLB All-star in 2018 , and Moustakas in 2015/17/19) Basketball: 0-12 (our men's team should make it but they always choke and have bad luck with injuries in Olympic years) Beach Volleyball: 0-2 (Arvaniti/Karagkouni have some chances to qualify. Would be Arvaniti's 4th Olympics. They missed 2016 because of her pregnancy and got lucky with the postponement of Tokyo because she had an ACL injury and would've missed 2020) Boxing: 0-3 Canoeing - Slalom: 0-1 (small chance for Tsakmakis to make his fourth Olympics) Canoeing - Sprint: 0-1 (I don't know much about this sport but I know we have a young guy Dimopoulos who is decent but probably too young/inexperienced for Tokyo) Cycling - BMX: 0 Cycling - Mountain Bike: 0-1 (Our team ranking fell a lot in recent months and we are no longer in the qualification zone) Cycling - Road: 1 Cycling - Track: 1 Diving: 1-2 Equestrian: 0 Fencing: 1 Field Hockey: 0 Football: 0 Golf: 0-1 (there is some Greek guy from South Africa who is trying to qualify for Greece but I know nothing about golf and don't know if he is any good) Gymnastics - Artistic: 1 (assuming Petrounias makes it) Gymnastics - Rhythmic: 0-1 (chance for Eleni Kelaiditi. Our group surely won't qualify which would be the first time since 1996. They aren't good anymore) Gymnastics - Trampoline: 0 Handball: 0 Judo: 2-4 Karate: 0-2 (Eleni Chatziliadou was world champion in 2018 so she should make it, but she was injured and her ranking fell so I'm not sure what her current status is) Modern Pentathlon: 0 Rowing: 4-10 (we already qualified women's pair and men's single sculls and will almost certainly make it in women's single sculls. Also a decent chance for lightweight women's double sculls. Outside chances for one or two more boats, but a lot of these athletes are too young and probably will make it in 2024 instead) Rugby Sevens: 0 Sailing: 8 Shooting: 3 Skateboarding: 0 Softball: 0 Sport Climbing: 0? (I know absolutely nothing about this sport) Surfing: 0? (I also don't have a clue) Swimming: 10-18 (we already have 7 and I think we'll get several more. Outside chance for men's 4x200 freestyle which would give us more athletes that probably can't make it individually) Table Tennis: 1 Taekwondo: 0-4 (Telikostoglou should make it as he won silver at 2019 World Championships. Tzeli was a medalist at the 2018 Youth Olympics and should have a better chance to make it now that she got an extra year. We have a few others with outside chances) Tennis: 2 Triathlon: 0? (no idea) Volleyball: 0 Water Polo: 12 (unless South Africa and/or Russia don't go and our women make it too) Weightlifting: 1-2 Wrestling: 1-2 Total Sports: 28 Optimistic Total Athletes: 140 Realistic Total Athletes: 103 Pessimistic Total Athletes: 74

So we now have 43 so far for Tokyo. In the next two weeks we will have diving, wrestling, and taekwondo qualification tournaments coming up. I hope we can get one or two divers and I think it's possible. Wrestling we already have Prevolaraki, maybe Pilidis can make it too. In taekwondo we have four good athletes who will try to qualify. I hope 1-2 can make it. Telikostoglou has to make it, surely. Hopefully after these we will have 46-47 total. Later in May we will know more about rowing, cycling (cross-country), weightlifting, and shooting. And of course swimming and athletics are ongoing. We only have 6 currently for athletics, but I think in the end we will have at least 22-23.

That's what I thought too, but can the rankings change? When is the ranking deadline?

GIONIS GOING TO TOKYO! His fifth consecutive Olympic appearance! I knew he would make it even by the rankings but now it is official.

GOLD for Petrounias with 15.400!

Okay thank you. As of now Gionis is in via ranking and there is still Stage 3 (plus players above/below him in rankings that can still qualify via Stage 2 and Stage 3) I am very proud that Greece doesn't use Chinese table tennis players and we have our own athletes, so I really hope he can qualify because haven't failed to qualify in table tennis since 1992.

Does this tournament impact the rankings?

Sad for New Zealand but now it says on Wikipedia that Canada will take their spot. And with one quota from the Americas being reallocated, suddenly I think Greece has a decent chance to take it. USA and Australia were 9th and 10th at the 2019 Worlds and will be tough to beat. Ireland (5th at 2021 Euros) and Poland (7th at 2021 Euros) as well as Switzerland will probably also be tough, but our girls definitely have a chance to finish top 3 IMO.

Thank you, I didn't know. So the two finalists make it and then three from Stage 3? I just assumed it was the four semifinalists plus one more quarterfinalist. As of now he's 7th in the ranking of those who haven't yet qualified, and Sirucek is 8th so hopefully he qualifies from here. Kou, Drinkhall and Robles are also in decent ranking positions of those still alive in Stage 2.

Wow can't believe Gionis lost. Hopefully he can still qualify for Tokyo via ranking.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but it would be nice if anyone is able to help https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-sonia-run-this-godassigned-marathon-and-win?sharetype=teams&member=10288962&pc=fb_co_campmgmt_w&rcid=r01-161911386763-4a06f38e69ca404e&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_lico%2Bshare-sheet&fbclid=IwAR1b2a6QL4d4JsbgeQ4bUk4FBuX2alSKB5LOPDoO_xip42Z5OjW7bKl9k7k This is her: https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/greece/sonia-cekini-boudouri-14695187

Good to see Prevolaraki in the final. She is now guaranteed to win her 5th European Championships medal. Hopefully this will be the first gold for her.

Do you think Petrounias is expected to qualify for Tokyo? And if he does, do you think he would be the favourite to win gold?

Yes, rowing we always do very well in U23 and junior competitions but unfortunately the problems happen when these athletes get older and need to support themselves. It's a shame because we should be doing much better in rowing.

I hope so. A problem was that the girls had to be at training camp most of the year and couldn't combine rowing with their studies. So they went to the USA where they had those opportunities to do both. Then in the summer sometimes they would come back and help the national team but the head coach decided after 2018 that he didn't want these athletes. Rowing is an amateur sport in Greece so these rowers make no money.

Sure.

If it makes you feel better, Argentina is an elite nation in football. Many other nations would give up every other sport to be in Argentina's position in football