Greece Wins Two Bronze Medals at Tokyo’s Paralympic Games

Two athletes representing Greece won bronze medals on Tuesday, the first full day day of the Paralympic Games taking place in Tokyo.

Panagiotis Triantafyllou and Demosthenes Michalentzakis won bronze for Greece in the wheelchair individual fencing category and swimming respectively.

Triantafyllou beat Frenchman Maxime Valet Wheelchair fencing to claim his medal. He has represented Greece at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. He won the silver medal in the men’s sabre B event at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.

In the November 2019 event of the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cup he won the gold medal in the men’s sabre B competition

Michalentzakis makes Greece proud at Paralympic Games

Michalentzakis competes in S9 and S8 classification events. He won Paralympic gold in the 100m butterfly at 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.

In 2014, he joined the national men’s swimming team disabled athletes. At 2014 IPC Swimming European Championship in Eindhoven, he finished 4th in the 200m individual medley S9 race and 5th in the 100m butterfly S9, just 16 years old.

At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, she finished 4th in the 100m butterfly S9. His greatest success, however, was achieved at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil, as he won the Gold Paralympic medal and set a new Paralympic record (59:27) in the 100m butterfly S9.

At the 2017 World Para Swimming Championships in Mexico he won the gold medal in the 100m butterfly S9 race, while at 2018 World Para Swimming European Championships in Dublin he won two gold medals (100m butterfly S8, 200m individual medley S8).

At 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London, he became world champion again, winning three gold medals in the S8 classification (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly).

The President of Greece, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, congratulated the two athletes via Twitter, saying: “Congratulations to Panagiotis Triantafyllou and Demosthenes Michalentzakis for the bronze medals in fencing and swimming at the Tokyo Paralympic Games! We are proud of our athletes who by their example give strength to all of us.”

Θερμά συγχαρητήρια στον Παναγιώτη Τριανταφύλλου και τον Δημοσθένη Μιχαλεντζάκη για τα χάλκινα μετάλλια στη σπάθη και την κολύμβηση, στους Παραολυμπιακούς Αγώνες του Τόκυο! Είμαστε περήφανοι για τους αθλητές μας που με το παράδειγμά τους δίνουν δύναμη σε όλους μας. 🇬🇷 #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/v59LFO8qB5

— President GR (@PresidencyGR) August 25, 2021

Greece competes with 46 athletes

The Paralympic Games 2020 started with Tuesday’s opening ceremony in Tokyo.

Around 4,400 athletes with disabilities, including 46 from Greece, are competing in 22 sports.

As Tokyo hosts the event, organizers urged participants to follow coronavirus rules with increased vigilance. “The infection situation today is different to how it was before the Olympics. It has deteriorated,” said Tokyo 2020 official Hidemasa Nakamura.

Team Greece will compete with 46 athletes in 11 sports, including track and field, swimming, weightlifting, fencing, cycling, judo, archery and table tennis.

At the Rio Games in 2016, Greece won 13 medals (5 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze), taking 24th place on the medal table. It was the second best place in the history of the Greek Paralympics, after the games in Beijing where it finished in 20th place.