The ascent of Greece

At the conclusion of the 2009 regatta in Brest, Belarus, over the weekend, Greece had won four gold medals out of the fourteen events raced.

The rise of Greek rowing began at the Olympic Regatta in 2004 and shows no signs of slowing down.

In 2004, Greece won their first ever Olympic medal in rowing. Vasileios Polymeros, rowing with Nikolaos Skiathitis in the lightweight men’s double sculls, finished third at the Olympic Regatta. The bronze medal had the added glow of being won on the Greek home waters at the Schinias regatta course near Athens.

From there Polymeros became the man to beat in lightweight sculling. The following year he became World Champion in the lightweight single before partnering up with Dimitrios Mougios in the lightweight double. The duo went on to win silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, under new head coach Gianni Postiglione, other crews were emerging. The lightweight women’s double had been a regular feature at international events and when the young Alexandra Tsiavou teamed up with Chrysi Biskitzi in 2006, after winning the World Rowing under-23 Championships in the lightweight single twice, the duo scored a medal at the senior World Rowing Championships. Tsiavou and Biskitzi remained together with the Beijing Olympics as their target. The duo made Beijing’s A-final. Biskitzi then retired and Tsiavou has continued to be successful. With new partner Christina Giazitzidou, the duo became World Champions earlier this year.

Greece has also been making great strides in the non-lightweight events. The Gkountoulas brothers, Nikolaos and Apostolos, became World Champions in the lightweight pair a year ago, then went on to get bronze this year in the open-weight pair at the World Rowing Championships. The men’s four of Ioannis Tsamis, Stergios Papachristos, Georgios Tziallas and Pavlos Gavriilidis are 2009 European Champions.

Ioannis Christou has won the European Rowing Championships twice and although this year he finished second, Christou is part of the groundswell in Greek rowing.

At the top of the medals table for this year’s European Championships, the team took away gold medals in the lightweight men’s and women’s double sculls and the men’s four and pair. The Greeks have been noticed.