Saturday was a day full of achievements for Greece in the Paris Paralympics, adding three more medals and raising Greece to 40th place in the world rankings.
Now, Greece counts two silver medals and two bronze, as on Friday, Christina Gentzou won the bronze medal in Tae Kwon Do in the K44 category at 65 kg. The Greek athlete beat China’s Yinan Yao with a 14-4 score.
On Saturday, Greek sprinter Lida Manthopoulou ran the 100m in the T38 category final of the 17th Paralympics, bringing home a silver medal for Greece on Saturday.
The 19-year-old athlete, daughter of late Greek actor Aias Manthopoulos added a silver medal to Greece’s history in the Paralympics.
Despite the fact that she fell behind at the beginning of the race, Manthopoulou picked up speed at 60 meters and managed a terrific finish at 12.49 (+0.8), setting an individual record for the second time and winning the silver medal.
The Greek Paralympics athlete lost only to Colombia’s Karen Tatiana Palomeque Moreno, who set a new world record with 12.26. The bronze medal also went to Colombian Darian Jimenez Sanchez with 12.53.
One more silver and one bronze
Thanasis Konstantinidis is once again a Paralympic silver medalist for Greece, as he set an astounding individual record and won the silver medal in the F32 Club Throw final at Stade de France, setting a new European record.
This is the third consecutive silver medal in the Paralympics for 54-year-old Constantinidis. The Greek athlete won the silver medal in the Club Throw competition in Tokyo 2020 and Rio de Janeiro 2016. He also won the gold in the F32 Shot Put at the Rio Games.
The Greek athlete also achieved an individual record with a 38.65 meters throw, which was the second best performance of the competition. Russian Aleksei Churkin (40.33 meters), competing as an independent, was crowned Paralympic gold medalist.
Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis congratulated Konstantinidis with a post on X (former Twitter):
Thanasis Konstantinidis won the silver medal in the F32 Club Throw at the Paralympic Games with a new European record! He deserves many congratulations, he made us proud once again.
On Saturday, Eleni Papastamatopoulou won the second bronze medal for Greece in Tae Kwon Do in the +65 kg category (K44) of the 2024 Paralympic Games. Christina Gentzou won the first bronze on Friday.
Papastamatopoulou’s victory over Fernanda Vargas Fernandez of Mexico was emphatic and gave her the bronze medal.
The Greek Paralympic performed better from the start of the match and reached a comfortable victory with 36-9, which gave her the third place on the podium.
