On day 3 of the Paris Olympic Games, several Greek athletes participated with mixed results.
Apostolos Christou missed out on a medal for a mere two-hundredths of a second, finishing 4th in the men’s 100-meter backstroke in 52.41 seconds at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
Italy’s Tomas Ceccon won gold in 52 seconds flat, China’s Xu Jiayu won silver, his second after Rio, in 52.32 and Rio gold medalist Ryan Murphy of the US was third in 52.39.
Christou’s 4th place was the best-ever result achieved by a Greek swimmer in the pool.
“I was upset, because (the medal) was so close…Maybe I got stuck in my turn. I had no strength to go any faster,” Christou, whose personal best is 52.09, told state broadcaster ERT after the race. He added that he expected a medal.
Christou will try again in the 2028 Olympics, at Los Angeles, although he will be 31 by then, an advanced age for a swimmer. “Maybe I’ll take a short break,” he said.
In an Olympics Fencing match that took place in Paris on Monday, Greece’s Theodora Gkountoura competed against France’s Manon Apithy-Brunet in the individual women’s sabre competition in a match that sparked controversy.
The tournament concluded with a narrow victory for the French athlete. Apithy-Brunet beat Gkountoura towards the end of the game with a final score of 15-13.
The defeat eliminated Gkountoura from advancing to the semifinals. Many Greek fans and television viewers have stormed social media platforms claiming that the referee displayed blatant bias against Gkountoura. They also claim the referee clearly favored the French fencer.
Olympic Games Day 3: Tsitsipas and Sakkari ease to the last 16
Stefanos Tsitsipas eased past UK’s David Evans (6-1, 6-2) to progress to the last 16 of the tennis tournament.
The singles tennis tournament at Paris 2024 saw its first high-profile exit when two-time Olympic champion Rafael Nadal of Spain suffered a second-round defeat to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic on Monday 29 July.
Maria Sakkari (No. 8 in the rankings) again showed that she is in excellent form, overcoming the obstacle of the Chinese, Wei Wan, number 40 in the world ranking. Dominating from the first games, the Greek tennis player took a comfortable victory with 2-0 sets (6-2, 6-1), booking her place in the last with Ukraine’s, Marta Kostiuk, number 19 in the world.
However, Tsistispas and Sakkari were knocked out of the mixed doubles competition.
Finally, Greek rowers Petros Gaidatzis and Antonis Papakonstantinou finished first in the first repechage race of the lightweight double skiff and qualified for the semi-finals of the event.
