With 13 medals to show for their efforts, Greece’s Paralympians have returned home to a jubilant welcome at Athens International Airport.
“The first feeling that I had when I finished the race was that I couldn’t believe it was me. I wasn’t seeing right. It couldn’t be right. I couldn’t hide my joy. I immediately started crying because in the years of effort so many things went wrong,” said swimming gold medalist Alexandra Stamatopoulou.
Greece completed a very successful Paralympics in Paris, with 13 medals – including three golds – from the 37 representatives of the country.
The total tally of the Greek mission to this Paralympics was three gold, three silver and seven bronze medals.
The Greek national anthem played for track-and-field champion Nasos Gavelas who became the first Greek Paralympian to win back-to-back golds in 100 meters (T11) and confirmed his status as the world’s fastest vision-impaired man, also holding the world record.
Fellow track-and-field champion Thanasis Konstantinidis won gold in shot put (F32), as well as silver in club throw (F32).
Swimmer Alexandra Stamatopoulou finished first in 50 meters backstroke (S4), in what was her last appearance at a major event, as she confessed with tears in her eyes.
Besides Konstantinidis, Greece secured silver medals from Antonis Tsapatakis in swimming, at 100 m. breaststroke (SB4) and from sprinter Lida Manthopoulou at 100 m. (T38).
Greece’s bronze medals came from Lazaros Stefanidis, Konstantinos Tzounis and Manolis Stefanoudakis in track and field, Christina Gentzou and Eleni Papastamatopoulou in taekwondo, Theodora Paschalidou in judo and the perennial medal winner in boccia, Grigoris Polichronidis, for his seventh Paralympic medal in his illustrious career.
Stamatopoulou and Tsapatakis had the honor to be Greece’s flagbearers at the Closing Ceremony.
