Christou Makes History For Greece with Silver in 200m Backstroke

Apostolos Christou has etched his name into Greek sporting history, becoming the nation’s first Olympic medalist in swimming. The talented athlete secured a sensational silver medal in the men’s 200m backstroke final on Thursday, touching the wall at a new national record time of 1:54.82.

Christou delivered a powerful performance, chasing down eventual gold medalist Hubert Kos of Hungary (1:54.26) throughout the race. He narrowly edged out Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov (1:54.85) to secure the silver.

Christou’s medal is nonethless historic. The last Greek swimming medal in swimming came from Spyridon Gianniotis in the marathon swim at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Before that, you have to go back to the 1896 Athens Olympics and Ionnis Malokinis’ medal in the men’s sailors 100-meter freestyle.

This triumph marks Greece’s second medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, following judoka Thodoris Tselidis’ bronze in the men’s -90kg weight class on Wednesday. Christou’s historic achievement in the pool will be celebrated as a defining moment for Greek swimming on the world stage.

Source: GCT//Bill Kouras