The 29-year-old athlete won the first gold medal in the history of Greece in artistic swimming at the World Championship level
Evangelia Platanioti created history by winning gold in artistic swimming on Saturday at the World Aquatics Championships, which is being held in Doha (Feb. 2-18).
Platanioti, 29, came in first with a total of 272.9633 points in the finals of the solo artistic swimming category, followed by Jacqueline Simoneau of Canada (269.2767) and Huiyan Xu of China (262.3700).
The moment you realise you won gold at World Championships 🤩 #AQUADoha2024
Women's Solo Technical
🥇EvangeliaPLATANIOTI - 272.9633 pic.twitter.com/yK6coQIV0B— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) February 3, 2024
She had scored first at Friday's preliminaries, besting that appearance by nearly 3 points. Another athlete of Greek descent, Vassiliki Alexandri, who competed under Austrian colours and is one of the top athletes in the sport, came in 6th after an error.
Platanioti has won two of Greece's three medals in artistic swimming: two bronze medals in Budapest in 2022.
It is the 5th gold for Greece in aquatic competitions and the first after 2013 when Spyros Gianniotis won gold for the 10-km open-water race in the World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona.
In a social media post on X (former Twitter), Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis congratulated the athlete, adding, "Evangelia, you've made us all proud!"
Θερμά συγχαρητήρια στην Ευαγγελία Πλατανιώτη για την κατάκτηση του χρυσού μεταλλίου στο τεχνικό πρόγραμμα του σόλο στην καλλιτεχνική κολύμβηση, στο Παγκόσμιο Πρωτάθλημα της Ντόχα.
Ευαγγελία μας έκανες όλους υπερήφανους! 🇬🇷
— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) February 3, 2024
This gold medal not only marked a memorable achievement for Platanioti but also marked just the second time Greece has won gold in any category (Youth, Junior or Senior) at the World Aquatics Championships.
Evangelia Platanioti, born on August 9, 1994, in Athens, began her artistic swimming career in 2003. She has been a member of the Greek National Team since 2007. In her first appearance at the Olympic Games in London, she competed in the duet event with Despina Solomou, finishing in eighth place.
During the Rio Olympics in 2016, she formed a duet with Evelina Papazoglou and secured a 10th place finish. In 2009, Platanioti emerged as a solo powerhouse, winning against tough competition from Russia. Two years later, she earned a European medal in the duo event.
Leading up to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Platanioti tested positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, after a few days, she tested negative and was able to compete in the Games. However, a few hours after her Duet Technical performance, multiple positive cases were announced within the Greek artistic swimming team, resulting in their withdrawal from the Games.
In 2021, she achieved a silver medal in the solo artistic program and a bronze medal in the free solo event at the European Aquatics Championships. Platanioti holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Piraeus.
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