Greece secures five medals in opening weekend of Paris Paralympics
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Greece’s Paralympics team have made their presence felt at the Paris Paralympic Games with a fantastic opening weekend that has seen them procure five medals.
Christina Gkentzou accomplished a major milestone as she earned the first ever medal for Greece in taekwondo, defeating China’s Yinan Yao 14-4 on Day Two to take out the bronze in the women’s 65kg (K44).
Eleni Papastamatopoulou followed Gkentzou’s example as she too claimed bronze in taekwondo, beating Mexican Fernanda Vargas 36-9 in the +65 kg category (K44).
Katerina Sakellaropoulou heaped praise on the Paralympian athletes for their achievements on her social media, with consistent posts on the President GR X account highlighting the stars’ medal wins.
Runner Lida Maria Manthopoulou scored Greece’s first silver of the Games in the 100m sprint (T38) with a time of 12.49 seconds, which was beaten only by Colombian Karen Palomeque who set a world record of 12.26.
Thanasis Konstantinidis procured the country its second silver as he set an impressive individual record by throwing 38.65m in the F32 Club Throw final, setting a new European record in the process.
Grigoris Polychronidis further cemented his legacy after winning bronze in the BC3 category of boccia, his seventh medal of his career.
“We set out to Paris for the seventh medal, and why not get the eighth in the next one?” the 41-year-old athlete said, who has earned a medal in every Paralympics since 2008.
In a post on X, Deputy Minister for Sport Giannis Vroutsis wrote:
“Words cannot describe his value and his contribution. We bow to him.”
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