Makedonas

For some reason it isn't working on my computer but works on my phone

Fun fact: Tsoukala made her Olympic debut at 17 in Beijing 2008 where she had an infamous wardrobe malfunction. Probably didn't expect that to be her only Olympic appearance. Now she's 29 and our team captain and oldest player. Another fun fact: She is half Greek and half Icelandic

https://www.ertflix.gr/ert3-live/ For Greece vs Netherlands

Greece has a 15 yo on the roster and she scored today

I thought they reversed that and are now allowing 13 players per team?

Watch from 3:07:00 to 3:08:20 and 3:17:00 to 3:19:30. Crazy emotions. I don't want a repeat of this on Saturday I remember watching this when it happened and I always have painful memories from this game. And our legend and former FINA World Player of the Year Alexandra Asimaki at 3:20:57. So heartbreaking to see her like that. But this is why we love sport, there are good moments and bad moments.

At least with this draw one of Greece/Netherlands will qualify. Neither team has made the Olympics since 2008.

You sure that's the only mistake? I think it's also a mistake that they change the qualification system every time. In 2011 we won GOLD at the World Championships and our entire qualification depended on one game against Spain, because we only got silver at the 2012 European Championships. Now after that they decide to have quotas for the World Championships, and when you think they want to be fair they give South Africa a free quota when other teams who are 100x better will miss out.

All are decent teams, but Greece beat China 12-8 at the last World Championships where six of the eight quarterfinalists were European (along with USA and Australia). Greece and Canada have played each other many times in the past, and I don't think Canada has ever beaten us. I mean no disrespect, but Canada probably would not have qualified if USA didn't win the world quota. My point was that Canada, Australia, South Africa (who will get destroyed in every game), and China didn't even have to break a sweat to qualify. They simply qualified because they exist. Try putting yourselves in our shoes for once and you may change your perspective.

I think it's unfair to automatically give spots to other continents. Six of the eight best teams in the world are from Europe (Spain, Netherlands, Hungary, Greece, Italy, Russia) and it's unfair that two of them have to miss out every year, while China and Australia (and now Canada and South Africa) get free passes. The European teams really have to earn it. The least they could do is combine Asia and Oceania and make one of China/Australia earn their spot.

I'm not from Poland, but I agree that this is scary if it happens.

I am so confused. All I know is that our girls have a chance to qualify for Tokyo, and I will be so happy if they make it. In 2016 we beat Spain in the group stage but still didn't qualify and Spain qualified, so I'm not sure what to think.

Can someone with more knowledge than me explain this please? Is it true? I don't really know how this works but I disagree with it if these are the new laws. I am not anti-LGBT or anything, but I disagree with the idea of having people compete in women's sports if they are biologically male.

Should be Croatia, Greece, Montenegro getting these spots. Would be surprised otherwise.

No I did not feel disrespected or anything. I understand why many people feel this way about our team and in some way I agree. I just wanted to say that we are probably better than people think. Since Rio we've beaten Russia three times, Australia twice, Spain, Hungary, Italy, and the Netherlands. However all of these were in 2017/2018. The best team we've beaten since was China...

If that happens, then they should also get a refund on the tuition they paid.

We lost 11-9 to the Netherlands at the 2019 worlds, 13-10 to Hungary at the 2020 Euros, and 7-5 to Italy at the 2020 Euros. We are definitely the underdogs, but I think people underestimate us. It's not like we got destroyed by these teams, and we have a lot of good young players (just look at how many medals these girls won at youth competitions). Plus we have no pressure on us which is a benefit. Again, I am not saying we will win but we are definitely capable of pulling off a surprise result. Also despite lockdowns, our girls were approved to be training together while some other countries couldn't train.

Thank you. I am not too sure. I think we have a lot of chances for medals, but we don't have too many clear favorites. We have a lot of good young athletes in athletics, swimming, rowing, sailing and some other sports, so I think 2024 will be much better. 5 of our 6 medalists from 2016 will be back in 2020, and I think some will win medals again. Petrounias if he qualifies I think will surely get a medal. Stefanidi I think also has a very good chance, but I don't think it would be gold again. Anna Korakaki has done very well since Rio but it will be hard to repeat what she did in 2016, I still think she has a good chance to win at least one medal. Our sailing team Mantis/Kagialis won bronze in 2016 but I think it will be hard for them to win another medal because they're old now. We have a lot of people who have won world championship medals in recent years like Maria Prevolaraki (wrestling), Kristian Gkolomeev (swimming), Theodora Gkountoura (fencing), Apostolos Telikostoglou (taekwondo), Eleni Chatziliadou (karate) and maybe some others that I am forgetting. So these are all chances for medals, and of course we have men's basketball if they qualify, men's water polo, Stefanos Tsitsipas which will have big expectations. Again though, we don't have too many clear favorites to win medals but a lot of people with some chances. We could end Tokyo with 2 medals or we could end with 15 . If I had to make a prediction, it would be about 5-6 medals. There are also some others in athletics, shooting, swimming and sailing that have some chances, maybe judo, boxing, rowing and cycling but I don't expect it.

Anneta Kyridou won bronze here in the women's single sculls at age 21. She was training all year for lightweights and then in late July/early August switched back to regular rowing and within two and a half months won gold at the European U23 Championships and bronze at the senior level in Poznan. Aikaterini Nikolaidou is another example. In 2013 and 2014 she won silver at the World Championships in the lightweight single sculls, then switched and in 2015 won silver in the women's double sculls (and then 4th in Rio 2016). So it is possible for some of these lightweight rowers to achieve great results in regular categories too. Though both are 180cm so they aren't typical lightweight rowers I guess. That's a good point, but also we have weight categories in plenty of other sports like weightlifting, taekwondo, wrestling and others. Personally I'd like to see heavyweight artistic gymnastics

Sorry but this is not true. Greece didn't select the flag bearer yet, though Anna is one of the top prospects for that position along with Stefanidi and Petrounias. There are also some rumors about Tsitsipas and Antetokounmpo but I don't think they deserve it since they never played at the Olympics before and the others already won gold medals.

I agree. I am really hoping to see our women make it but we need a lot of luck. I think I would be less angry if we made it in 2012, that was when we were really robbed. We are not as good as we were back then and we only have two of the same players. My only hope is that our new coach somehow transforms this team. There should be 12 teams instead of 10. I thought expanding it from 8 to 10 would increase our chances, but instead they just went to Canada and South Africa I am confident the men will make it but not sure about basketball, we always have great players in NBA and Euroleague but choke in Olympic qualifying and always have a lot of injuries during Olympic years. I think our women's artistic swimming team has a good chance to make it but they won't win a medal. Sorry for making it off topic.

I agree about Elina Tzengko and would like to add our women's rowing team of Christina Bourmpou and Maria Kyridou in the women's pair They have achieved amazing results together over the past few years. 2018 (as 17 year olds) GOLD at European Junior Championships GOLD at World Junior Championships GOLD at European U23 Championships GOLD at Youth Olympics 4th at World U23 Championships 2019 (as 18 year olds) GOLD at World U23 Championships GOLD at European U23 Championships 5th at European Championships 11th at World Championships 2020 (as 19 year olds) SILVER at European U23 Championships BRONZE at European Championships They have already qualified for Tokyo and will be 20 years old there (they were both 18 when they earned qualification). They are very young for rowing, but they keep improving every year. If we had World Championships in 2020, I think they would've finished somewhere between 6th and 8th or so. A medal in Tokyo might be too tough for them, but I think they have a very good chance to reach Final A, and from there anything can happen.

Thank you

So only one boat per country can qualify from the European regatta? Greece should make it in women's single sculls and men's single sculls and possibly women's lightweight double sculls, so I guess we can only have one of those boats make it and then the other two go to the final qualification regatta? Forgive me because I'm not sure how this works. We also have some chances to qualify in men's lightweight double sculls and women's double sculls. I know we are also trying for men's four but it seems unlikely. The team that finished 4th in London and 8th in Rio is all gone. The new athletes in the men's four are too young for Tokyo.

Eleni Chatziliadou needs to qualify here. She won gold at the last World Championships (2018). She couldn't qualify from the ranking because she was injured. For us she is a big chance to win a medal in Tokyo, really hoping she can qualify but I'm nervous about her.