The land of Greece has produced many great athletes. It was in this country that the tradition of Olympic games started in 776 B.C. Snapshots of the profiles of famous Greek athletes are presented through this write-up.
The Olympic games is today’s most prestigious and all-encompassing sporting event. The foundation of this great sporting tradition was laid by equally great athletes from Greece. The sports like weightlifting, stade, diaulos, etc. were played for Olympiads in this country. Performances of Greek athletes in these games were appreciated and this sporting tradition was well supported by the people of Greece. The information about Greek athletes should interest the readers. Chionis, Diagoras and Astylos were amongst the famous Greek athletes in the ancient Greek Olympics.
Sports Personalities from Greece
Most of the profiles presented below are that of athletes from ancient times. There were many records created and broken by these athletes. Their performances in different forms of sports are still remembered. Even modern Greece has produced champions like Konstandinos. The profiles presented below should help in reliving the glorious past of sports in Greece.
Chionis
Ancient Greece has a long tradition of athletes and Chionis was one of them. He was known for setting records in long jump and triple jump sports. Chionis had set a record of 7 m and 5 cm in the Olympics of 656 B.C. The best performance of Chionis in the sport of triple jump was 15.86 m. In 656, 660 and 664 B.C, Chionic won the diaulos and stade events. Diaulos is a running race in which the athlete has to complete 2 laps of 384 m. Stade is the ancient form of the modern 100 m race.
Diagoras of Rhodes
He was one of the famous ancient Greek athletes to have participated and won in boxing. Diagoras won the boxing title in the 79th Olympiad (464 B.C.). It was not just the Olympiad games, but the Isthmia and Nemea games in which Diagoras excelled.
Astylos of Crotona
He was an athlete from ancient Greece who excelled in the diaulos and stade events. Astylos won the title in these events successively for 3 times in the period between 488 B.C. and 480 B.C.
Bybon
He was a weightlifter from 6th century Greece. Bybon is specially remembered for lifting a 143 kg stone with a single hand. This stone is kept for exhibition at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.
Kostas (Konstantinos) Kenteris
He is a former Greek athlete from Mytilene, Greece. Konstandinos was born on 11th July, 1973. He has participated in 100m, 200 m and 400m races. Notable achievements of Konstandinos include winning gold medals in the Summer Olympics (2000), World Championships in Athletics (2000) and the European Athletics Championships (2002). He had also won a gold medal in the Mediterranean Games of year 1993. Konstandinos could not play for a long time (approximately 6 years) after the Mediterranean Games.
Jim Londos
One of the famous Greek athletes of today’s times, Jim Londos was a professional wrestler. He was born on January 2, 1897 in Argos, Greece. Londos ruled the world of heavyweight wrestling for 16 years during the post-depression era. He left home at the age of 13 years and went to the United States. Before getting into wrestling, Jim Londos worked as an electrician and also at a grocer-store.
Pyrros Dimas
He has achieved a rare feat of being a 3-time Olympic and World champion in weightlifting. Pyrros started playing this sport at the age of 11 years. He was born on 13th October, 1971 to Greek parents residing in Himare, Albania. Pyrros Dimas has also worked as a sports reporter for the Greek National Television (ERT).
List of Other Greek Athletes
Names of some of the notable athletes from Greece can be found here.
- Alexios Alexopoulos
- Ioannis Protos
- Kharilaos Vasilakos
- Evangelos Gerakeris
- Konstantinos Filippidis
- Mark Mindler
- Ekaterini Thanou
- Vasilis Papageorgopoulos
- Dimitrios Golemis
- Khristos Zoumis
- Periklis Iakovakis
- Ioannis Vrettos
- Antonis Katantonakis
- Olga Kaidantzi
- Maria Karastamati
- Nikolaos Georgantas
- Apostolos Nikolaidi
- Ioannis Nafpliotis
The list of famous Greek athletes presented in this write-up provides us with an overview of notable sports personalities from this country. The short account of information should prove to be useful for further study.