Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greece. Show all posts
Monday, 29 June 2026
Sunday, 28 June 2026
Saturday, 27 June 2026
Friday, 26 June 2026
Wednesday, 24 June 2026
Monday, 10 November 2025
UKRAINIAN TAEKWONDO ATHLETES WON 5 MEDALS AT THE EUROPEAN CADET CHAMPIONSHIP IN GREECE
Ukrainian cadets won 5 awards, including a gold, a silver, and bronze medals, at the European Taekwondo Championship in Athens. Over 500 athletes from 35 countries participated in the competition.
At the competition in Greece, with the participation of athletes from 35 countries, Ukrainian cadets won gold, silver, and bronze medals, UNN reports with reference to the press service of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine and the national Olympic team of Ukraine.
Details
Ukrainian taekwondo athletes won 5 awards at the European Cadet Championship, which took place in Athens (Greece).
More than 500 athletes from 35 countries, including 18 Ukrainians, took part in the taekwondo (WTF) competition. According to the results of the competition, the "blue and yellow" team climbed the podium five times:
Gold medal: Andrienko Mariia (weight category up to 33 kg);
Silver and bronze: Naboka Prokhor (weight category up to 57 kg); Pevchuk Tetiana (weight category up to 41 kg); Dovzhanin Karyna (weight category up to 47 kg); Nasadchuk Nikita (weight category up to 61 kg).
Recall
Taekwondo athlete Artem Harbar won the third gold medal for Ukraine at the World Summer Universiade - 2025.
Ukrainian taekwondo athlete Maksym Manenkov won a gold medal at the World Summer Universiade in Germany in the weight category up to 58 kg. This victory was the seventh medal for Ukraine at the competition, and Manenkov admitted that he was inspired by Oleksandr Usyk's victorious fight.
- UNN
Thursday, 26 June 2025
Thursday, 20 March 2025
KIRSTY COVENTRY BECOMES FIRST WOMAN AND FIRST AFRICAN TO LEAD INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
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| Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images Kirsty Coventry was elected as the new IOC president on Thursday |
PYLOS, Greece - Kirsty Coventry was elected president of the International Olympic Committee on Thursday, becoming the first woman and first African to lead the world’s wealthiest multi-sport organization in its 130-year history.
The Zimbabwean needed only one round of voting to clinch the race to succeed Thomas Bach, winning an immediate overall majority in the secret ballot with 49 of the available 97 votes.
Coventry beat Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. into second place, the Spaniard winning 28 votes. Britain’s Sebastian Coe, considered one of the front runners in the days leading up to the vote, came third with eight vote.
"Coventry beat Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. into second place, the Spaniard winning 28 votes. Britain’s Sebastian Coe, considered one of the front runners in the days leading up to the vote, came third with eight votes.
The remaining votes went to Frenchman David Lappartient, Jordan’s Prince Feisal, Swedish-born Johan Eliasch, and Japan’s Morinari Watanabe.
"This is not just a huge honour but it is a reminder of my commitment to every single one of you that I will lead this organisation with so much pride," a beaming Coventry told her fellow IOC members at the luxury seaside resort in Greece’s southwestern Peloponnese which hosted the IOC Session.
"I will make all of you very, very proud, and hopefully extremely confident with the choice you've taken today, thank you from the bottom of my heart," she added.
Coventry said she now wants to bring all the candidates together.
"I'm going to sit down with President Bach. We're going to have a few months for a handover takeover. And what I want to focus on is bringing all the candidates together. There were so many good ideas and exchanges over the last six months.
"Look at the IOC and our Olympic movement and family and decide how exactly we're going to move forward in the future. What is it that we want to focus on in the first six months? I have some ideas, but a part of my campaign was listening to the IOC members and hearing what they have to say and hearing how we want to move together."
SHOW OF UNITY
Coventry's first-round landslide was a show of unity in the body, she said.
"It's extremely important we have to be a united front and we have to work together. We don't and we might not always agree, but we have to be able to come together for the betterment of the movement."
A seven-times Olympic medallist , Coventry won 200m backstroke gold at the 2004 Athens Games and again in Beijing four years later.
She was added to the IOC's Athletes’ Commission in 2012, and her election to the top job signals a new era for the IOC, with expectations that she will bring a fresh perspective to pressing issues such as athlete rights, the gender debate and the sustainability of the Games.
A champion of sport development in Africa, Coventry has pledged to expand Olympic participation and ensure the Games remain relevant to younger generations.
She also inherits the complex task of navigating relations with global sports federations and sponsors while maintaining the IOC’s financial stability, which has relied heavily on its multibillion-dollar broadcasting and sponsorship deals.
As she takes the helm, the global sporting community will be watching closely to see how Coventry shapes the future of the world’s biggest multi-sport organisation.
While her election was broadly popular among the IOC family, there was disquiet in some quarters over her links with the Zimbabwean government, for whom she serves as Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts, and Recreation, a position that has raised eyebrows given Zimbabwe's problematic history with political freedoms.
The country has faced sanctions from the United States and the European Union. Coventry's longstanding recognition in Zimbabwe, where she was given a $100,000 award by the former President Robert Mugabe for her success at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, adds further complexity to the situation. Mugabe was in power for 37 years before being overthrown in a military-backed coup in 2017.
Although Coventry has attempted to separate herself from political affairs, her ministerial role and ties with Zimbabwe's leadership continue to be contentious issues as she steps into the leadership of the world's most powerful sports organisation.
On Thursday, though, she was all smiles.
Champion in Athens 2004, victorious again in Pylos -- her golden touch in Greece shows no signs of fading.
"Greece seems to be my lucky charm," she smiled.
- Reuters, editing by Toby Davis and Ed Osmond
Friday, 11 October 2024
GREECE GAVE 'SOUL' FOR BALDOCK IN HISTORIC WIN OVER ENGLAND
Greece's two-goal hero Vangelis Pavlidis paid an emotional tribute to George Baldock after his side's 2-1 Nations League victory over England at Wembley on Thursday.
British-born Greek international Baldock, who joined Panathinaikos from Sheffield United in May, died this week aged 31 after being found in a swimming pool at his Glyfada home.
The Wembley crowd observed a minute of silence before kickoff and Greece's players looked flat at the final whistle despite sealing their first-ever win against England.
During their celebrations they lifted a shirt bearing the name of Baldock.
"It was a very special day and match for us. Our thoughts are with George," Pavlidis said.
"We are professionals and had to play the match. We gave our soul for him tonight. Today is not a day to talk about football. He was part of our team. We will miss him very much.
"Also to wish strength to his family and not talk about football. The whole day was numb. We won tonight and don't want to celebrate. There are just no words."
Baldock, who was of Greek ancestry, was capped 12 times for the country, his last appearance coming in March.
Greece manager Ivan Jovanovic praised his team's spirit, saying they had been inspired to play in Baldock's memory.
"At such moments football comes second," he said. "The time he was with the team he made his mark and that was visible in the way the players played today."
- Reuters
Thursday, 10 October 2024
BRITISH-BORN GREECE DEFENDER GEORGE BALDOCK DIES AT AGE 31
The body of British-born Panathinaikos and Greece defender George Baldock was found on Wednesday in a swimming pool at his home in the southern Athens suburb of Glyfada, police sources said.
The cause of death remained unknown.
Police tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the 31-year-old former Premier League player but could not revive him,a police official said.
The time of death was put at 10pm (1900 GMT).
Baldock, who was of Greek ancestry and was capped 12 times for the country, joined Panathinaikos in May from Sheffield United after the English side were relegated from the top flight.
He also played for lower league sides MK Dons and Oxford United.
Sheffield United said they were shocked and extremely saddened by the death of a popular player who spent seven years at Bramall Lane, with other English clubs sending their condolences.
Baldock made four appearances for Panathinaikos, including a 0-0 draw with local rivals Olympiakos at the weekend, but had not been selected for Greece's Nations League squad for a game against England at Wembley on Thursday.
England and Manchester United defender Harry Maguire, a former Sheffield United player, posted a photograph of Baldock on Instagram with a broken heart emoji and RIP.
"With deep sadness and pain, the national team and the Hellenic Football Federation say goodbye to George Baldock," the Greek team said on Facebook.
"There are no words to describe the human pain caused by the news of the untimely loss of one of our young people. The moment calls for silence. Condolences to his family. Condolences from his second family. Goodbye."
- Reuters
Wednesday, 9 October 2024
Thursday, 30 May 2024
CELEBRATIONS IN GREECE AS OLYMPIAKOS BEAT FIORENTIINA 1-0 FOR FIRST EUROPEAN TITLE
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| AP Photo |
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Setting off wild celebrations in Athens, Olympiakos won Greece’s first European club title by beating Fiorentina 1-0 with a goal in extra time of the Europa Conference League final on Wednesday.
Ayoub El Kaabi provided the dramatic ending, diving to nudge in a last-gasp goal in the second period of extra time, with fans erupting in celebration after a lengthy wait for a VAR check for offside.
“Praise be to God, we promised our supporters we’d do this today and we did it,” El Kaabi said.
The Morocco striker – who finished as the competition’s top scorer – struck in the 116th minute of the match and dropped to his knees as he waited to see if the goal would stand after he had met a cross from Santiago Hezze.
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| AP Photo |
The goal decided a game that had looked destined for a penalty shootout following an energetic but largely risk-free encounter at AEK Arena, and condemned Fiorentina and its coach Vincenzo Italiano to a second straight defeat in the final of the Europa Conference League after losing last year to West Ham.
“We created chances and had the opportunity to lift the cup but unfortunately it didn't happy – I'm sorry,” Italiano said. “In Europe it’s not an easy thing to get this far and lose.”
Olympiakos coach Jose Luis Mendilibar secured a second straight European title after winning the Europa League with Sevilla last season.
“It’s an honor to have made all these people happy, I feel immense joy and happiness to have made people feel this way and I dedicate it to them,” Mendilibar said.
"We have achieved something that our club has never achieved before. We will celebrate it and celebrate it the way we should. Then we will start working on what comes next.” Tens of thousands of Olympiakos fans joined boisterous celebrations across the Greek capital after attending outdoor viewing parties. Youths held up lit flares in the port city of Piraeus, near Athens, where the team is based.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described Olympiakos as “a true legend,” adding in an online post: “Olympiakos has won the Europa Conference League and made history! A sensational night for the club itself, but also for Greek football as a whole.”
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| AP Photo |
The third-tier European club competition took place amid a massive security operation, with some 5,000 police officers forming concentric cordons around a northern area of the capital – amid Europe-wide security concerns this summer for major sporting events including the Paris Olympics and European soccer championship in Germany.
The final was briefly marred by scuffles between Fiorentina fans inside the stadium and riot police next to them.
Although the visitors dominated the early stages of the final, Fiorentina goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano kept his team in the game with two impressive fingertip saves to block on-target shots from Daniel Podence in the fourth minute and Stevan Jovetic in the sixth minute of extra time.
El Kaabi, who scored a total of 11 goals in the competition, had been largely sidelined in the match by Fiorentina's unyielding four-man defense.
Olympiakos players celebrated with 15,000 fans after the game, some holding their young children as golden confetti was fired into the air around the awards podium.
“It’s the best emotion I’ve felt so far in my career,” defender Panagiotis Retsos said. "I’ve had a lot of ups-and-downs but I’m very, very happy to be here.” ___
Nicholas Paphitis and Michael Varaklas in Athens, Greece contributed.
- DEREK GATOPOULOS
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
DESPITE WEATHER GLITCH, THE PARIS OLYMPIC FLAME IS LIT AT THE GREEK CRADLE OF ANCIENT GAMES
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| AP Photo |
ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — Even without the help of Apollo, the flame that is to burn at the Paris Olympics was kindled Tuesday at the site of the ancient games in southern Greece.
Cloudy skies prevented the traditional lighting, when an actress dressed as an ancient Greek priestess uses the sun to ignite a silver torch — after offering up a symbolic prayer to Apollo, the ancient Greek sun god.
Instead, she used a backup flame that had been lit on the same spot Monday, during the final rehearsal.
Normally, the foremost of a group of priestesses in long, pleated dresses dips the fuel-filled torch into a parabolic mirror which focuses the sun's rays on it, and fire spurts forth.
But this time she didn't even try, going straight for the backup flame, kept in a copy of an ancient Greek pot. Ironically, a few minutes later the sun shone forth.
From the ancient stadium in Olympia, a relay of torchbearers will carry the flame more than 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) through Greece until the handover to Paris Games organizers in Athens on April 26.
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| AP Photo |
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said the flame lighting combined “a pilgrimage to our past in ancient Olympia, and an act of faith in our future.”
“In these difficult times ... with wars and conflicts on the rise, people are fed up with all the hate, the aggression and negative news,” he said. “We are longing for something which brings us together; something that is unifying; something that gives us hope.”
Thousands of spectators from all over the world packed Olympia for Tuesday's event amid the ruined temples and sports grounds where the ancient games were held from 776 B.C.-393 A.D.
The sprawling site, in a lush valley by the confluence of two rivers, is at its prettiest in the spring, teeming with pink-flowering Judas trees, small blue irises and the occasional red anemone.
Greek authorities maintained high security around Olympia on Tuesday, after protests by rights activists disrupted the lighting ceremonies for the Beijing summer and winter games. Armed police stopped incoming vehicles and checked for explosives, while sniffer dogs combed the grounds.
The first torchbearer was Greek rower Stefanos Douskos, a gold medalist in 2021 in Tokyo. He ran to a nearby monument that contains the heart of French Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the driving force behind the modern revival of the games.
The next runner was Laure Manaudou, a French swimmer who won three medals at Athens in 2004. She handed over to senior European Union official Margaritis Schinas, a Greek.
The IOC's Bach praised Paris organizers for doing “an outstanding job” with preparations for the July 26-August 11 games.
He also highlighted their environmental impact, saying that cleanup efforts will make it possible to swim in the River Seine, which traverses Paris, “for the first time in a hundred years.”
The flame will travel from Athens' port of Piraeus on the Belem, a French three-masted sailing ship built in 1896 — the year of the first modern games in Athens.
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| AP Photo |
According to Captain Aymeric Gibet, it's due on May 8 in the southern French port of Marseille, a city founded by Greek colonists some 2,600 years ago.
The Belem arrived in Katakolo, near Olympia, on Monday. Lookers-on included a small, enthusiastic group of tourists from the northwestern French region of Brittany, where the ship's homeport of Nantes is, waving French and Breton flags.
“We thought it would be a unique opportunity to see the flame lighting at the historic site of Olympia,” said Jean-Michel Pasquet from Lorient, near Nantes. “And when we also learnt the Belem would carry the flame ... we said we must do this.”
But Pasquet said he'd have to watch the Paris Games from home.
“For us, it would be really very expensive, unaffordable,” to go to the venues, he said. “So we'll watch them on television ... from our armchairs.”
- NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Friday, 22 March 2024
Monday, 16 October 2023
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