The Olympic year is approaching, and several Greek athletes have already secured their qualification for the upcoming Games in Paris 2024, where 10,500 athletes will participate in 329 events in 32 sports.
The qualification is now open for all sports, and several Olympic tickets have already been distributed for several. In most sports, the qualification period will remain open until the end of June 2024, with several of them having a qualification process through ranking and points.
In the last Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, Greece sent a team of 83 (46 men, 37 women) in 17 sports and returned with four medals (two gold, one silver and one bronze). Of course, Greece's most significant accomplishment was hosting the event in 2004, when we had 204 participants and 16 medals.
For Paris, the big goal is to form a big team again. The president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Spyros Kapralos, has emphasised that everyone's dream is for the team that will be in Paris to consist of a three-digit number of members, which seems possible if one calculates that the qualifications for the national women's polo team are pretty possible: men's basketball and artistic swimming.
The Greek mission has 26 members so far.
So far, Greece has counted 26 members in four sports: Three in shooting, four in athletics, five in swimming and one team (15 players) in polo.
The first Olympic qualification came from two-time Olympic shooting champion Anna Korakaki in the 10m air pistol in October 2022 at the World Championships in Cairo. She was followed by the European champion, Antigoni Drisbiotis, in the 20km walk when she finished with 1:28.12 in a race in Melbourne in February, and together with the limit for third place in the Olympiacos, she also set a new pan-Hellenic record. Christina Moschi, in the 10m air pistol, also qualified for the Olympics from the European championship in March and became the second shooter to represent the country in Paris.
Apostolos Christou reached the limit (53.74) by swimming the 100m. backstroke in 53.22. His teammate and European champion, Anna Doudunaki, has also booked a place for Paris after reaching the limit (57.92) for the 100m with 57.75. butterfly.
The Olympic gold medalist, Miltos Tedoglou, reached the length limit (8.27m) and booked a place for Paris when he "flew" at 8.38m in the Panhellenic championship.
Then, within a few days, the group grew by… 17 members.
In the early hours of July 27, Apostolos Siskos reached the 200m mark. Backstroke and a few hours later, the national men's polo team (15 players), "silver" at the Tokyo Olympics, qualified for the World Final and checked for a place for Paris 2024. In the early hours of July 28, Christian Golomeev swam faster than the limit at 50m. free and messed with the qualification.
The pole vault champion, Emmanuel Karalis, set a new individual record with a 5.82m jump and reached the Olympic limit (5.81m.). In comparison, Stergios Bilas in swimming and the 50m. freestyle was added to the team when at the European U23 championship, he won the gold with 51.83 and became the 25th Olympic team, reaching the limit.
The latest addition was that of Emmanuela Katzourakis in women's shooting and skeet when she became the third Greek woman to book a place for shooting in Paris.
Preliminaries in individual sports:
Anna Korakaki - shooting (10m air pistol)
Antigoni Drisbioti - athletics (20km walk)
Christina Moschi - shooting (10m air pistol)
Apostolos Christou - swimming (100m backstroke)
Anna Dountounaki - swimming (100m butterfly)
Miltos Tendoglou - athletics (long)
Apostolos Siskos - swimming (200m backstroke)
Christian Golomeev - swimming (50m freestyle)
Emmanuel Karalis - athletics (pole vault) )
Stergios Bilas - swimming (50m freestyle)
Emmanuela Katzouraki - shooting (skeet)
Qualification in team sports
Men's national polo team
Qualification Opportunities
From the end of summer and autumn, gymnasts will likely be added to the list after the corresponding World championships in instrumental (30/9-8/10) and rhythmic (23-27/8) are held from where Olympic qualifications will be given at individual and team levels.
The two-time Olympic rings champion, Lefteris Petrounias, and the rhythmic ensemble may return if they have managed to secure tickets for Paris. They can qualify through the European championships and the series of world cups.
With hopes of Olympic qualification, the National men's basketball team will travel to Manila, Philippines, for the World Championship, the period (25/8-10/9) from where two qualifications will be given to European teams, and Greece hopes to win one. Four volleyball teams (two men's and two women's) will qualify from six (three men's and three women's) pre-Olympic tournaments to be held 16-24/9 for women and 30/9-24/10 for men.
Through the World Championship (3-10/9), they will also claim qualifications in rowing, while in wrestling, the champions of the sport will be able to reserve a place through the World Championship (16-24/9) in Belgrade.
From August 8 to August 20, Olympic tickets will also be distributed in sailing at the World Championship in The Hague, Holland, while qualifiers will be given in road cycling and BMX from August 3-13. From the World Championship scheduled for 28/7-6/8 in Berlin, qualifications will also be provided in archery.
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