Tuesday was the fourth day of the Rio 2016 Olympic games and Greece’s Anna Korakaki beat out the competition in the women’s 25 meter pistol competition to become the first Greek woman to win more than one medal in the same game.
Korakaki won 4 out of 7 series in the intense gold medal match against Germany’s Monika Karsch to win the gold medal.
The 20-year-old shooter also won Greece’s first medal at the Rio games, taking bronze in the women’s 10 meter pistol event on Sunday.
Egypt decided on Saturday to nominate former Minister of Family and Population Moushira Khattab for the position of director-general of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The decision came after current director-general Irina Bokova announced candidacy for the UN secretary-general position. Citing officials, state-owned news agency MENA reported that Khattab has started visiting top officials from the UNESCO member states to secure their stances regarding her nomination.
Officials stated that the tour is secretive and far from media follow-ups. However, privately-owned newspaper Al-Youm Al-Sabaa reported that many member states have welcomed the decision and support Khattab’s nomination.
Rights lawyer Gamal Eid opposed the nomination, saying that he is not against Khattab’s nomination because she is secular, but rather because she is one of the prominent figures of the era of former president Hosni Mubarak.
The nomination of Khattab came one year after Egypt nominated Ahmed Aboul-Gheit to be secretary-general of the Arab League. Aboul-Gheit served as the Foreign Minister from 2004 to 2011, and his nomination marked a comeback for the prominent figures of the Mubarak era.
In 2014, founding director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina Ismael Serag El-Din was nominated for the UNESCO director-general position. Uproar amid intellectuals and activists also took place as Serag El-Din was a controversial nominee who was facing several charges in court. He was also a prominent figure of the Mubarak era.
In 2009, Egypt nominated former Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni to the post of director-general as well, but chances of his appointment declined after anti-semitic statements were made, saying that if there were any Israeli books in the Alexandria library, he would burn them. The comments sparked international concern over whether he would be appropriate for the position.
Activist Wael Abbas commented on the nomination of Hosni at the time, saying that he was a hypocrite and worked for a dictatorial regime. He also added that his ministry was involved in corruption.
Earlier in May, Qatar nominated cultural adviser to the Emir, Hamad Al-Kuwari, for the same post, which will level the competition, as both Khattab and Al-Kuwari will attempt to win the support of the seven Arab countries that vote in the UNESCO.
Khattab was the former Minister of Family and Population during the era of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in 2011. She also served as Egypt’s ambassador to South Africa, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. She further served at Egypt’s diplomatic mission in Austria, Hungary, and the United Nations.
UNESCO is a specialised agency in the United Nations that aims to facilitate peace and security through fields such as education and natural sciences.
92 athletes will represent Greece in the Rio Olympics in August, according to the Hellenic Olympic Committee.
Twenty seven athletes will compete on track, while in individual sports, 15 will be in swimming, nine in gymnastics, seven in sailing and six in rowing.
Τhe Hellenic Swimming Federation has the most athletes (30), with 15 of them in swimming, two in synchronized swimming, and 13 in national men’s water polo. Three athletes will compete in cycling, two each in fencing, shooting and judo and one each in wrestling, weightlifting, archery and table tennis.
Evangelia Psarrou, at 42, is the oldest female athlete on the Greek Olympic team (born on 17.06.1974) and taking part in the Olympics for the fifth time (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012). Spyros Gianniotos is also celebrating his fifth time at the prestigious games.
For others it will be their fourth appearance at the games, those athletes include: Vlassis Maras (2004, 2008, 2012), Sofia Bekatorou (2000, 2004, 2008), Angela Skarlatou (1996, 2000, 2012), Ilias Iliadis (2004, 2008, 2012) and Panagiotis Gionis (2004, 2008, 2012).
It is worth noting that this is the first time since 1992 that Greece will have fewer than 100 athletes. In Barcelona, only 70 Greek athletes had participated. In Atlanta in 1996 there were 120, in Sydney in 2000 there were 139, in Athens 2004 there were 436 (the largest participation), in Beijing in 2008 there were 152 and in London in 2012, there were only 103.
Head of the Greek delegation will be Isidoros Kouvelos for the third consecutive time.
The 92 athletes representing Greece are:
Athletics (27)
Lycurgos Tsakonas – 200m.
Kostas Douvalidis – 110m. obstacles
Miltos Tentoglou – length
Anthony Mastoras – height
Kostas Baniotis – height
Kostas Filippides – pole vault
Nikos Skarvelis – shot put
Michael Anastassakis – hammer throw
Christoforos Merousis – Marathon
Michael Kalomoiris – Marathon
Alexander Papamichail – 20km. walking & 50km. walking
Maria Belimpasaki – 200m.
Eirini Vasiliou – 400m.
Elizabeth Pesiridou – 100m. obstacles
Alexia Pappas – 5.000m. & 10,000m.
Lili Alexoulis – length
Voula Papachristou – triplicate
Nicole Kyriakopoulou – pole vault
Katerina Stefanidis – pole vault
Chrisoula Anagnostopoulou – discus
Riga Sofia – Marathon
Rania Rempouli – Marathon
Panagiota Vlachaki – Marathon
Despina Zapounidou – 20km. walking
Antigone Drisbioti – 20km. walking
Panagiota Tsinopoulou – 20km. walking
Sofia Yfantidou – Heptathlon
Swimming (15)
Odysseas Meladinis – 50m. free
Christian Gkolomeev – 50m. free & 100m. free
Dimitris Dimitriou – 400m. free
Stefanos Dimitriadis – 200m. butterfly
Panagiotis Samilidis – 100m. breaststroke and 200m. front
Dimitris Koulouris – 200m. breaststroke
Apostolos Christou – 100m. backstroke and 200m. backstroke
Andreas Vazaios – 200m. medley
Christos Katrantzis – 4X100m. free
Nora Drakou – 50 m. free
Theodora Giareni – 50m. free
Anna Ntountounaki – 100m. butterfly
Christelle Vournas – 100m. butterfly
Spyros Gianiotis – 10km. marathon swimming
Kelly Araouzou – 10km. marathon swimming
Synchronised Swimming (2)
Evangelia Platanioti – Duet
Evelina Papazoglou – Duet
Water Polo (13)
Kostas Flegas
Stefanos Galanopoulos
Emmanouil Mylonakis
Giorgos Dervisis
Kostas Gennidounias
Ioannis Fountoulis
Kyriakos Pontikeas
Christos Afroudakis
Vangelis Delakis
Kostas Mourikis
Christodoulos Colomvos
Alexander Gounas
Angelos Vlachopoulos
Gymnastics (3)
Vlasis Maras – individual all
Lefteris Petrounias – rings
Vaso Millousi – individual all
Rhythmic gymnastics (6)
Barbara Philiou – individual all
Stavroula Samara – ensemble
Helen Doika – ensemble
Michaela Metallidou – ensemble
Joanna Anagnostopoulou – ensemble
Zoe Kontogianni – ensemble
Sailing (7)
Byron Kokkalanis – RS: X
Tzeli Skarlatou – RS: X
John Mitakis – Finn
Pavlos Kagialis – 470
Panagiotis Mantis – 470
Sofia Bekatorou – Nacra 17
Michael Pateniotis – Nacra 17
Rowing (6)
Yiannis Christou -‘s four without helmsman
George Djialas -‘s four without helmsman
Dionysios Angelopoulos -‘s four without helmsman
Yiannis Tsilis -‘s four without helmsman
Katerina Nicolaidou – double sculls
Sophia Asoumanaki – double sculls
Cycling (3)
Yiannis Tamouridis – race
Christos Volikakis – keirin
Dimitris Antoniadis – mountain biking
Fencing (2)
Vassiliki Vougiouka – saber
Katerina Kontochristopoulou – exercise sword
Shooting (2)
Efthymis Mittas – skeet
Anna Korakaki – 10m air pistol. & 25m sports pistol.
Archery (1)
Evangelia Psarrou – individual Olympic bow
Weightlifting (1)
Theodoros Iakovidis – 85t.
Wrestling (1)
Maria Prevolaraki – 53k. free
Judo (2)
Roman Moustopoulos – 81k.
Ilias Iliadis – 90K.
Table Tennis (1)
Panagiotis Gionis – single
The Greek Paralympics Committee announced the names of the 54 athletes – 41 men and 13 women – who will represent Greece in the 2016 Paralympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, which are scheduled for 7-18 September.
According to the president of the committee Giorgos Fountoulakis, the finest paralympic athletes will represent Greece in Brazil and expressed his gratitude for the support.
Greece will be represented in 11 sports – the most since the Athens Paralympics: Wheelchair tennis, powerlifting, sailing, swimming, boccia, wheelchair fencing, cycling, shooting, athletics, judo and archery.