Greek athletes hope for medals in Beijing

06/08/2008

Greece turns from host to guest as it sends its largest Olympic team ever to go abroad to Beijing, four years after the Athens Games.

By Christos Ringas for Southeast European Times in Athens -- 06/08/08

Greek judoist Ilias Iliadis is expected to medal in Beijing. [Getty Images]

Greece will lead the procession of nations in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, continuing a tradition it began in 1928 in Amsterdam. The blue-and-white flag will wave in the hands of the 2004 judo gold medalist, Ilias Iliadis. The Greek Olympic team will be the largest one ever to go abroad, with 156 athletes -- compared to the 139 in Sydney -- participating in 23 events. Among those are three team sports: men's and women's water polo and men's basketball.

The team has high hopes of distinguishing itself in Beijing. Iliadis and 2004 triple-jump silver medalist Chrysopigi Devetzi represent its best hopes for medals. The men's basketball team, women's water polo team and broad jumper Louis Tsatoumas also have the potential to take medals. Other athletes who might reach the podium are Iordanis Paschalidis and Konstantinos Trigonis in tornado-class sailing, Vasilis Polymeros and Dimitris Mougios in lightweight double sculls, Alexandros Nikolaidis in men's under-80kg taekwondo, Elisavet Mystakidou in women's under-67kg taekwondo, Vlasios Maras in gymnastics, Aris Grigoriadis in the 100m backstroke and 50m and 100m freestyle and Spyros Gianniotis in 400m freestyle swimming.

Several gold medalists will represent Athens at the Beijing Games. They are Athanasia Tsoumeleka, winner of the 2004 women's 20km race walk; Fani Halkia, winner of the 2004 women's 400m hurdles; Sofia Bekatorou, winner of the 2004 women's 470m sailing race; and Iliadis, the judoist and flag-bearer.

The oldest athlete will be 41-year-old Paschalidis in tornado-class sailing, while the youngest is Vasiliki Maniou in team rhythmic gymnastics. She turns 16 in November.

This year's team will sorely miss some competitors who failed drug tests. Most of the weightlifting squad tested positive for a banned steroid, as did swimmer Yiannis Drymonakos -- a strong medal prospect -- and sprinter Dimitris Regas. The International Olympic Committee is also mulling whether to permit tarnished sprinter Katerina Thanou to participate in Beijing, since she served a two-year suspension for skipping three drug tests before the 2004 Games.

Greece won six gold, six silver and four bronze medals in Athens, topping its 13-medal haul in Sydney in 2000. The accounting firm PwC estimates the athletes will win 15 medals in Beijing, one less than in 2004. Greece, which has participated in all previous 25 Olympic Games, has won 109 medals: 30 gold, 42 silver and 37 bronze. It has taken at least one medal in 16 of the 25 modern Olympiads.