Iconic Greek Olympian Giorgios Roubanis dies at age 95
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Greek fans around the world are honouring the life of Olympic pole vaulter Giorgos Roubanis, who died on Tuesday at age 95.
Roubanis took home a bronze medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, which was the only medal won by Greece that year. He jumped 4.50 metres breaking the Greek national record at the time.
This victory secured him the title of Greek Athlete of the Year, an award that symbolised much more to the Greek Australian community than he may have realised.
Mass post war emigration to Australia in the 1950’s meant many Greek Australians were forging their way in a new country; Roubanis’ win in Melbourne meant a merging and celebration of their two homes.
Giorgos Roubanis was born in Thessaloniki to a gymnast father, and grew up in a high achieving family alongside his brother Aristidis who also went on to become an Olympian in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics for both basketball and javelin.
After retiring from pole vaulting in 1961, Roubanis used his degree in political economics to work in management consulting and advertising — most notably working for a period with Spyros Skouras, president of 20th Century Fox in the US. In 1985, he founded the Association of Greek Olympic Champions.
The President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) Isidoros Kouvelos says Roubanis “will forever belong to the pantheon of [Greece’s] top athletes”, commending him as a “shining example of an athlete and a person.” The HOC will cover his funeral expenses.
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