Greece won a total of eight medals in the Paris 2024 Olympics this year. The Games of the French capital saw the birthplace of the Olympic Games adding to her rich history an impressive medal tally, considering the size of the nation.
A large number of Greek athletes brilliantly demonstrated their strength and determination across a wide spectrum of disciplines, securing a total of one gold, one silver, and six bronze medals.
Greece’s cherished gold in the Paris Olympics
Greece’s sole gold medal came from the nation’s long jump idol. Miltiadis Tentoglou. The “jumping angel from Grevena” as he is known in Greece managed to stun the world with another fascinating performance in the long jump event.
Tentoglou successfully defended his Olympic title from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, solidifying his global status as one of the world’s best long jumpers in history.
Greece’s silver, the first in Olympic swimming
Apostolos Christou was the man who achieved the unimaginable: He brought home a silver medal for Greece in Swimming, the first in the country’s Olympic history since 1896.
The young swimmer secured the medal in the men’s 200-meter backstroke.
Christou competed on August 1 against the world’s best swimmers and managed to finish with an impressive time of 1:54.82.
This placed him just behind Hungary’s Hubert Kos, who won the gold with a slightly faster time of 1:54.65.
Bronze medal Olympic bonanza
A total of six different Olympic events saw Greek athletes achieving the third-best performance, securing the nation a total of six bronze medals.
1. Dauren Kurugliev showed the world his wrestling strength and determination, winning a bronze medal in the men’s 86kg freestyle category.
2. Theodoros Tselidis earned another spot on the podium with a bronze in the men’s 90 kg Judo event. This was the first medal for Greece in this year’s Olympics.
3. The Rowing duo of Greece, Antonis Papakonstantinou and Petros Gaidatzis, won the bronze medal in that event covering the distance in 6:13.44. The two Greek athletes competed in the Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls event.
4. The female Rowing duo of the nation Zoe Fitsiou and Milena Kontou secured another bronze medal for Greece. The Greek athletes competed in their own Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls Rowing event, offering the nation another success.
5. Lefteris Petrounias, who has been known in the last decade as the Greek Lord of the Rings, won the bronze medal competing in the Gymnastics rings. The Greek champion made history as he became the first athlete in the history of the event to win three medals in consecutive Olympic Games.
6. Emmanouil Karalis finished third in the pole vault competition of this year’s Olympics with a 5.90 meter jump, securing another bronze medal for Greece.