Top 10 of the Greek sporting decade (Part 1 of 3)

AGONAsport’s “Decade in Review” series concludes with Andrew Stamas counting down the top 10 Greek sporting highlights of the last decade on the international stage, starting with honorable mentions in the first of a three-part series.

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Before the countdown begins, here are some honorable mentions:

OLYMPIC BREAKTHROUGH IN WOMEN’S ROWING

After Greece won its first Olympic medals in men’s rowing in 2004 and 2008, it was time for Greek female rowers to also win an Olympic medal. With Chrysi Biskitzi and Alexandra Tsiavou coming in sixth place in the women’s lightweight double sculls at the 2008 Games and therefore earning the country’s best-ever Olympic result in women’s rowing, the Greeks were already on the right track. Following that, Biskitzi retired and Tsiavou joined forces with Christina Giazitzidou. The two were immediately successful together, winning gold at the 2009 World Championships, where Giazitzidou was just 19 years old. Giazitzidou and Tsiavou also went on to win bronze at the 2010 World Championships, and another gold at the 2011 World Championships. They also won gold medals at three consecutive European Championships (from 2009 to 2011), and were the overwhelming favorites to win gold in their event at the 2012 Olympics. In the end, the Greek team only won bronze at the London Games, but this bronze was still extremely significant as it was the first-ever Olympic medal in Greek women’s rowing history. Immediately following that, Giazitzidou, 22 from Kastoria, and Tsiavou, 26 from Igoumenitsa, retired from the sport despite still being considered “young” for rowing standards. Nevertheless, Giazitzidou and Tsiavou paved the way for more Greek female rowers to do well at the Olympics. This was seen four years later, with 23-year-old Aikaterini Nikolaidou and 19-year-old Sofia Asoumanaki placing fourth in the women’s double sculls at the 2016 Olympics, despite being the youngest of the 13 teams in the entire event.

A HAPPY ENDING FOR GIANNIOTIS

Competing in the fifth and final Olympics of his career at Rio 2016, all eyes were on 36-year-old Greek swimmer Spyridon Gianniotis. The man from Kerkyra had built up an impressive resume over his long career, but was still missing an Olympic medal. Having finished fifth (in the men’s 1500 metres freestyle) and seventh (in the men’s 400 metres freestyle) at Athens 2004, Gianniotis focused on the men’s 10 km marathon swim event later on in his career. At the 2012 Olympics, he came in as the reigning world champion and gold medal favorite, but came in fourth place and missed a medal by five seconds. Despite this disappointment, Gianniotis was determined to end his career with the Olympic medal that he so badly deserved. After winning gold at the 2013 World Championships and bronze at the 2015 World Championships, there was still hope that he could possibly reach the podium in Rio. As the oldest of the 25 swimmers in the competition, Gianniotis ended up with a silver medal, narrowly losing the gold by a photo finish. This was Greece’s first Olympic swimming medal since 1896, and after crying tears of sadness four years earlier in London, the time came for Gianniotis to cry tears of joy in Rio. Finally, in the last race of his career, the 36-year-old Greek was able to capture the one medal that he wanted the most of all.

MORE OLYMPIC MEDALS FOR GREEK MEN

After winning gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens at the age of 17, much was expected of judoka Ilias Iliadis in the years to come. He would go on to win several gold medals at World and European Championships, and went into the 2012 Games as the two-time reigning world champion and the favorite to win gold. Despite a disappointing early exit at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Iliadis was able to once again get back on the podium in London, taking bronze in the men’s 90 kg. Four years later, Iliadis would retire at the 2016 Olympics. There, two other Greek men rose to prominence. Sailors Pavlos Kagialis and Panagiotis Mantis took bronze in the men’s 470 event. This was extra special for the duo, as they were making their Olympic debut after being controversially not selected to represent Greece at London 2012.

NBA DRAFT STREAK

From 2012-2018, a Greek basketball player was drafted into the NBA each year. This seven-year streak began in 2012 when Kostas Papanikolaou was announced as the 48th pick by the New York Knicks. The following year, the Milwaukee Bucks selected Giannis Antetokounmpo as the 15th pick. His older brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, was drafted in 2014 by the New York Knicks as the 51st pick. Then, in 2015, the Atlanta Hawks selected Dimitrios Agravanis as the 59th pick. The 2016 NBA Draft saw the Phoenix Suns take Georgios Papagiannis with the 13th pick, making the center from Megara the highest drafted Greek player ever. In the 2017 NBA Draft, Tyler Dorsey was drafted 41st by the Atlanta Hawks. Finally, Kostas Antetokounmpo was the Philadelphia 76ers’ 60th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. With seven NBA draft pick players throughout the course of the decade, Greece was the sixth-most successful country in the draft from the 2010s decade. Only the United States, Canada, France, Serbia, and Croatia had more players selected in the NBA draft than Greece between 2010 and 2019.

BERLIN 2018: SUCCESS DURING A DARK TIME FOR GREECE

Following the devastating wildfires in Greece just before the start of the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin, Greeks were suffering and in need of something to lift their spirits. As Greek track and field had already been on the rise leading up to Berlin 2018, a few medals would have meant the world to Greece with the country going through such tough times. All Greek competitors wore black ribbons on their team uniforms throughout the Championships in honor of those who lost their lives in the wildfires. In the men’s long jump, 20-year-old Miltiadis Tentoglou won gold to give Greece their first medal of the Championships. Following that, Katerina Stefanidi defended her European title in the women’s pole vault, where Greece’s Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou took silver as well. Triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou also added another gold medal to Greece’s tally. Then, Maria Belibasaki won silver in the women’s 400 metres, and 36-year-old Dimitrios Tsiamis earned bronze in the men’s long jump, with both athletes winning their first medals at major competitions. In total, this was by far the strongest showing by the Greek track and field team at any competition since 2002. It should be added that this upward trend in Greek track and field ultimately continued in 2019.

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