Team Greece won 26 gold, 26 silver and 19 bronze medals in Taranto, securing Greece’s best position in Mediterranean Games history.
Greece finished third among 26 countries at the 20th Mediterranean Games in Taranto, Italy, after collecting 71 medals across individual and team events, according to a Hellenic Olympic Committee medal report.
The total comprised 26 gold, 26 silver and 19 bronze medals. It gave Greece its highest place in the competition’s overall standings and put the delegation ahead of France and Spain. The country had never previously ranked third at the Games.
Although the result fell short of the record 89 medals Greece won in Tunis in 2001, it represented the country’s second-largest haul in the event’s 75-year history. The showing also extended a period of notable international results for Greek sport, following the country’s medal-winning performances at the Paris Olympics.
Sports institutions welcome returning athletes
Members of the athletics squad arrived at Athens International Airport on Friday, September 4, after the closing ceremony in Taranto the previous evening. Representatives of the Hellenic Athletics Federation welcomed the team, congratulated the competitors and presented them with gifts.
The federation also acknowledged the Hellenic Olympic Committee, the institution responsible for organizing the national delegation under the Team Hellas banner. The outcome places attention on how Greece’s sporting authorities support elite athletes and develop younger competitors for future international events.
Athletics accounted for seven medals. Polyniki Emmanouilidou took silver in the women’s 100 meters, while Christos Frantzeskakis finished second in the men’s hammer throw. Antonios Merlos won silver in the men’s high jump, and Rafailia Spanoudaki-Hatziriga earned the same medal in the women’s 200 meters.
Greek runners also secured silver in the women’s 4×100-meter relay and bronze in the mixed 4×100-meter relay.
Swimming and rowing drive medal total
Swimming supplied several of Greece’s gold medals. Anna Ntountounaki won both the women’s 50-meter and 100-meter butterfly events, while Apostolos Christou completed a backstroke double in the men’s 50-meter and 100-meter races.
Dimitris Markos claimed gold in the men’s 400-meter freestyle, silver over 800 meters and bronze in the 200 meters. Apostolos Siskos added the men’s 200-meter backstroke title.
Rowing produced seven Greek gold medals. Evangelia Anastasiadou, Stefanos Ntouskos, Zoi Fitsiou and Petros Gaidatzis each won individual sculls events before joining forces for two victories in mixed double sculls competitions. Martha Bourbou and Maria Diavati also won the women’s double sculls.
The breadth of those results was matched by success in wrestling, judo, triathlon, sailing and gymnastics. Gold medalists included wrestlers Georgios Kougioumtsidis and Dauren Kurugliev, judoka Elisavet Teltsidou, triathlete Panagiotis Bitados, sailor Danae Pontifix and artistic gymnast Antonios Tantalidis.
Breakthrough medals broaden Greece’s sporting base
Aikaterini-Maria Kontochristopoulou won a landmark fencing gold. In finswimming, Ifigeneia Teliousi captured two individual titles and contributed to another victory in the 4×100-meter surface relay.
Eleni Korokozidi and Martha Matoula won the women’s doubles tennis title. Greece also reached the podium in three team competitions, taking silver in men’s volleyball and men’s handball and bronze in women’s handball. The latter result added to recent visibility for Greek women’s team sport, including the national water polo side’s bronze medal at the European Championships.
Team Hellas also recorded notable results in disciplines that traditionally receive less attention in Greece, with fencing and badminton among the sports delivering historic Mediterranean Games medals.
Young athletes emerge as next policy test
Several Greek competitors were between 17 and 19 years old, making their performances relevant to the longer-term planning of the country’s sports federations and Olympic authorities. Their transition into senior international competition will test whether the institutions overseeing Greek sport can turn success at Taranto into sustained results.
For most of the athletics team, the return to Athens marked the end of a demanding summer schedule. Some athletes were expected to continue at European meetings before the season formally concluded later in September.
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