NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo will be joined by world champion race walker Antigoni Drisbioti as Greece’s two flag-bearers at the upcoming Paris Olympic Games.
The world-class athletes were elected during a plenary session of members of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) on Tuesday, the second time that Greece will send two flag-bearers. Previously, one of the world’s premier still rings champions, Eleftherios Petrounias, joined 2016 Olympic shooting (25m pistol) gold medalist Anna Korakaki in leading the parade of nations during the 2020 (2021) Tokyo Games.
The decision for Antetokounmpo was unanimous by the HOC delegates, while Greece’s best race walker, Drisbioti, ever received the most votes among four candidates, one of which was tennis star Maria Sakkari.
Tokyo long jump gold medalist Miltos Tentoglou and 2016 pole vault gold medalist Katerina Stefanidi were first approached by the HOC, as tradition dictates in cases of medal winners returning to compete in subsequent Games. However, the pair asked to be excluded in order to not change their training programs ahead of this summer’s Games of the XXXIII Olympiad.
The Greek men’s national basketball team beat Croatia over the weekend in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) final in Athens (80-69) to secure a spot in the Paris Olympics.
Antetokounmpo led the scoring with 23 points and also grabbed eight rebounds.
