Olga Vasdeki is a triple jump athlete. She was born on the 26th September 1973 in Volos. She is an athlete of Panellinios Athletic Club and her trainer is Panayiotis Markianidis. She has achieved many and important distinctions, such as being first in the European games in 1998, in the World Cup in 1998 and in Bruno Zauli the same year. A year earlier, in 1997, she had achieved other distinctions, such as being first in the Mediterranean Games, second in the Balkan Games and fourth in the World Championship. In the Olympic Games in Atlanta, she was fifth whereas in Sidney she was seventh with a jump at 14.15 m.
Costas Gatsioudis is a javelin athlete and has been an athlete of Panellinios Athletic Club since 1999. He was born on the 17th December 1973 in Didimoticho and his trainer is Antonis Papadimitriou, a former javelin champion. In 1994 he was first in the European Youth Games and he was also first in the European Cup in 94 and 95. In 1995, he broke the world record of Juniors with a throw at 80.30 m. In the Olympic Games in Atlanta, he broke the Pan-Hellenic record with a throw at 87.12 m, a record which has reached the 91.69 m since then. In the Olympic Games of Sidney in 2000, he came sixth in the final. In 1997, he won the bronze medal in the World Championship held in Athens and two years later, the silver medal in Seville with a throw at 89.18 m. According to the official ranking of IAAF, he has been the best javelin athlete in the world in the last 2 years.
Pyrros Dimas is one of the most significant athletes in the field of Greek sport and one of the greatest personalities in weightlifting worldwide. He was born on the 13th October 1971 and he competes in the category of 85 kilos in Weightlifting. He is an athlete of Milon Club, he has studied agriculture and he has the rank of captain of the Greek Army. In his career so far, Pyrros Dimas has broken 6 world records and won 3 gold Olympic medals. Two of these records can never be broken because they were in the category of 83 kilos which does not exist anymore. As regards the Olympic medals, he won the gold in the category of 82.5 kilos with 370 kilos in total in the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992. He did the same thing again in the next Olympic Games in 1996, Atlanta, USA, in the category of 83 kilos with 392.5 in total. His circle of Olympic medals so far has been completed with a third gold in the Olympic Games in Sidney in 2000 where he was first lifting 390 kilos in total. Apart from his Olympic distinctions, Pyrros Dimas possesses 3 world titles and one European. The world titles are from the championships in Melbourne, 1993, Kantona, 1995 and in Lacht, 1998. In the World championship in Athens in 1999, Pyrros Dimas won the silver medal. On a European level, Pyrros Dimas won the championship of 1995. Pyrros Dimas states that he will be present in the Olympic Games of 2004. He says that winning the gold medal in Athens is one of his greatest dreams.
Katerina Thanou is one of the top athletes in the world in the 100m. She is regarded as the best white sprinter in the world with Marion Jones as the only one better than her. She was born on 1/2/1975 in Athens. She is an athlete of Olympiakos Club and her trainer is Christos Tzekos. The silver medal in the Olympics in 2000 is a great achievement in her brilliant career. However, there have been many more distinctions. It is worth mentioning some of them: the first place in the World Championship in 1999, when she won the gold medal breaking in succession the pan-Hellenic record and in the European Indoor Games in 1996 and 2000 in the race of the 60m. She is the holder of the pan-Hellenic record in the 100m with 10,83. She is the only Greek female athlete that has managed to run below the barrier of 11 seconds.
Anastasia Kelesidou is one of the greatest athletes in the world. She was born on the 28th November 1972, in Thessalonica. She competes in the discus and she is an athlete of Heraklis Club. Her trainer is Costas Spanidis. In the Olympic Games in Sidney in 2000, she won the silver medal whereas in the Mediterranean Games in 1997 and in the Bruno Zauli Games in 1998, she was first. She is the first Greek athlete who broke the record of 60 m in the Discus in 1994 with a throw at 60.5 m and later she reached 67.70 m.
Nikos Kaklamanakis is one of the top athletes in the Mistral class in board sailing and he is in the fifth position in the world ranking. He was born on the 19th August 1968 and he is an athlete of the Naval Club of Andros. The biggest moment in his career so far was the gold medal in the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. Nikos Kaklamanakis was first in the World Championship in 2000 in Mar de Plata in Argentina and also first in the World Championship in 2001 held in Varkiza, Attica. He also won the European Championship in 1994. In the Olympic Games in Sidney, the Greek champion was in the 6th place, whereas in the Olympic Games in Barcelona, he was in the 9th place. He also won the silver medal in the World Championship in 1995 which was held in South Africa. Nikos Kaklamanakis wants to finish his career winning a medal in the Athens Olympics in 2004 and then to devote himself to the training of the future champions in board sailing in the Mistral class.
Amiran Kardanov was born in Russia, on the 19th August 1976. He came to Greece when he was 19 years old and became an athlete of Heraklis Club of Peristeri. He is an athlete of free-style wrestling. In 1998, he won the bronze medal in the European Championship. The biggest distinction for the athlete and one of the most pleasant surprises for the Greek team was the bronze medal in his category in the Olympic Games in Sidney in 2000. In 2001 he won the silver medal in the European Championship.
Akakios Kakiasvillis is one more great Greek athlete in Weightlifting. He competes in the 105 kilos category. He is a Polytechnic graduate and nowadays serves as an officer in the Greek Air Force. As far as the number of gold medals is concerned, Akakios Kakiasvillis has as many as Pyrros Dimas –but the Gold medal he won in Barcelona was with the team of Georgia in which he was a member then. In the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, Kakiasvillis competed with the Greek colours and he won the gold medal breaking the world record both in the total with 420 kilos and in the clean and jerk lift with 235 kilos. He was also first in the Olympic Games in Sidney in 2000 with 405 kilos in total. The World Championship held in Athens in 1999 was a great moment for him, because he won three gold medals in all categories –total, clean and jerk lift and snatch lift. He broke the world record with 188 kilos in the snatch lift. He has been first in two other world championships, such as the one in Cantona, in 1995 (total and clean and jerk lift). He also won two gold medals and a bronze one in the World Championship in Finland in 1998. He broke the world record in the clean and jerk lift with 228.5 kilos in the European championship in Warsaw.
Costas Kenteris, the sprinter from Mytilene, was born on the 11th September in 1973. He is an athlete of Olympiakos club and his trainer is Christos Tzekos. Kenteris has achieved one of the greatest triumphs of the Greek sports. He excelled in sport quite early when in 1990 he was first in the World Students Games in the 400m. In the Olympic Games in Sidney in 2000, he left everybody speechless finishing first in the 200m with distinctive ease. This gold medal caused great sensation both in the Greek people as well as in the people all over the world. He was also first in the world Championship in 2001 in the 200m confirming that he is an athlete of international class. Costas Kenteris also competes in the 400 m and in 1993 in the Mediterranean Games he was first.
Leonidas Kokas competes in Weightlifting and he is an athlete in the club Spartakos, Ioannina. He won the silver medal in Weightlifting (category of 94 kilos) in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. He donated his silver medal to the children of “Make a Wish” (Kane mia Efxi) proving his pure athletic ethos. He underwent a meniscus operation which unfortunately kept him away from the Sidney Olympics. He is an officer of the Greek Army.
Valerios Leonidis was born in Russia on the 14th February 1966. He is an athlete of the VAO club. He came to Greece in December 1991. He competes in the sport of Weightlifting in the 69 kilos category. He has had many distinctions the most important ones being: the silver medal in the 1996 Olympics with 332.5 kilos (breaking the world record) and the gold medal with 312.5 kilos in the European Championship in 1996. Valerios Leonidis is a graduate too in pharmaceutics and an officer of the Greek Navy.
Mirela Magniani competes in the javelin. She is an athlete of Olympiakos club and her trainer is Vassilis Kokolis. She was born on the 21st December 1976 in Albania. She competed for the first time with the National Team of Greece in 1997 in the World Championship held in Athens. Since then, she has followed an impressive course. She won the gold medal breaking the world record with a throw of 67.09m in the World Championship held in Seville in 1999. A year later, she won the silver medal in the Sidney Olympics in 2000 breaking the pan Hellenic record with a throw of 67,51m.
Ioannis Melissanidis was born on the 27th March 1977 and is regarded as one of the top athletes in the artistic gymnastics worldwide. He offered unique moments to Greece and the spectators of the Olympic Games in Atlanta winning the gold medal in the floor exercises breaking the individual record with 9,850 points. The President of the Hellenic Republic, Costis Stefanopoulos, awarded the medal to the Greek champion, highest honorary distinction to a Greek citizen. He has won many distinctions among which the following: first position in the European championship in the vault and second position in the floor exercises, first position in the floor exercises in the European Junior Championship, the third position in the Mediterranean Games in the vault and the gold medal in the European Youth Championship in Prague in 1994. He decided to donate his Gold European Medal of 1994 to the family of the Turkish athlete of gymnastics, Murat Campas, who was killed in a car accident. For this, Turkey honored him with the highest honorary distinction ‘Ipektsi’. In 1994 he was second in the World Championship in the floor exercises.
Michalis Mouroutsos was born on the 29th February 1980. He has been an athlete of tae kwon do since 1987. His trainer is Young Chu and he is a holder of the black belt with three dans. In 1996, he was in the sixth position in the European Championship in Zagreb. In 1997, he was first in the Balkan Championship held in Kastoria, while he was third in the Mediterranean Cup held in Rome. In 1999, he participated in 4 pre-Olympic tournaments being first in Spain, Finland and Poland. He finished second in the last tournament in Sweden, which guaranteed his qualification to the Olympic Games in 2000 in Sidney, where following a great performance, he won the gold medal in his category. In the European championship held in Patras in 2000, he won the Gold Medal. He was also first in an international meeting in Korea.
Viktoras Mitrou came to Greece from Albania in 1991. He is an athlete of the club Spartakos, Ioannina. He competes in Weightlifting in the 77 kilos category. In the Olympic Games in Sidney in 2000, he won the silver medal in the specific category lifting 367.5 kilos in total. In the previous Olympic Games, in Atlanta, in 1996, he was fourth in the same category lifting 357.5 kilos in total. He was first in the European Championship in 1998 and second in the World Championship in 1999. He is an officer in the Greek Army nowadays.
Niki Bakogianni was born on the 9th June in 1968, in Lamia. She competes in the high jump, she is an athlete of the Club ASE Duka and her trainer is Yiannis Koutsoyiannopoulos. Her top moment was when she won the silver medal in the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, where she achieved the impressive pan-Hellenic record of 2,03 m. In the same year, she had already won one more silver medal in the European Indoor Athletics Championship achieving 1.96m. Among her many distinctions are: the first place in the European Cup (Bruno Zauli) in 1996 and in the Balkan Games in 1990, 1992 and 1994.
Voula Patoulidou was born on the 29th March 1965 in Tripotamos, Florina. Nowadays she competes in the sport of long jump, she is an athlete of PAOK Club and her trainer is Dimitris Zarzavatsidis. She won the gold medal in the Olympics in 1992 in the 100m hurdles with a personal best of 12.64. This achievement was considered a milestone in the history of the Greek Sports. She was also first in the Mediterranean Games in 1991 in the 100m, in the Bruno Zauli Games in 1995 in the 100m hurdles, in the Balkan Games in the 100m and 100m hurdles in 1990 and in the Balkan Games in the long jump in 1994. Voula Patoulidou is the athlete whose drive and success in Barcelona –together with that of Pyrros Dimas- “opened the dance’ of the Olympic medals for Greece in the Olympics that followed.
Leonidas Sambanis was born on the 20th October 1971 and is an athlete of Panathinaikos club. He became a member of the National Team of Weightlifting in 1995 and since then he has met with success many times. In the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, he won the silver medal in the 59 kilos category lifting 305 kilos. He also won the silver medal in the Olympics of 2000 lifting 317,5 kilos. He has got many medals in his collection, as for example, the gold medals he won in 1995 in the World Championship in Cantona, in the European Championship in Stavanger, in the World Championships in 1998 and in 1999. In the last one, he was first lifting 145 kilos in the snatch lift and second in the total lifting 315 kilos. He has followed teaching studies and he serves as an officer in the Greek Air Force.
Dimosthenis Tambakos started his career in artistic gymnastics in 1984. He was born on the 12th December 1976 in Thessalonica. In 1997 he was sixth in the rings in the World Championship, while in 1998 he was third in the European Championship. He won the bronze medal in the World Championship in China in 1999. He won the gold medal in the final of rings in the European Championship of artistic gymnastics in Germany and the gold medal in the rings in the international meeting in Moscow. His greatest moment was without doubt the Olympic Games in Sidney where he won the silver medal in the rings with 9,762 points.
Ioanna Hadziioannou was born on the 22nd October in 1973 in Thessalonica. She is an athlete of Pigasos Club, Thessalonica, and she competes in Weightlifting in the 63 kilos category. Her most important moments in her athletic career were the third position in the clean and jerk lift lifting 127.5 kilos –Pan-Hellenic and European record- in the World Championship in 1999 in Athens. She had already won three medals in the same year –a gold, a silver and a bronze- in the European Championship in La Corunna. The top moment of her career though was in the Olympic Games in Sidney where she won the bronze medal.
The National Team in the Group Event of rhythmic gymnastics won the bronze medal on the first appearance of a Greek team in the specific sport in Olympic Games. The team consisted of the champions: Irini Aindili, Chara Kariami, Eva Christodoulou, Maria Georgatou, Clelia Pantazi and Anna Pallatou. The National Team in the Group Event won the gold medal in the two hoops + 3 ribbons and in the 10 tenpins and the silver medal in the Group event in the World Championship in 1999. The team won the gold medal in the three events in the European Championship in Budapest in the same year and the gold medal in the Kalamata Cup in 2000.
