Antetokounmpo and Drisbioti – Greece’s flag bearers at Paris 2024

Antetokounmpo and Drisbioti - Greece's flag bearers at Paris 2024. HOC

The plenary session of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) has decided that Giannis Antetokounmpo and Antigoni Drisbioti will be the flag bearers for Greece at the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Antetokounmpo was chosen unanimously, while Drisbioti, the world champion racewalker, was selected after a vote among three other female athletes: tennis player Maria Sakkari, artistic swimmer Evangelia Platanioti, and water polo player Margarita Plevritou. The schedules of the athletes competing the following day were also taken into account to ensure they were not exhausted before their events. 

The HOC contacted the Olympic medallists prior to the meeting, in accordance with the usual procedure for selecting the flag bearer. However, both athletes Miltiadis Tentoglou (long jump) and Ekaterini Stefanidi (pole vault) asked not to be flag bearers so as not to interfere with their preparations for the Games. 

After the vote, HOC President Spyros Capralos said, “From the beginning, together with the Head of Mission, Petros Synadinos, we proposed to have two flag bearers at the Olympic Games. There was an important discussion about whether there should be one or two, and in the end we followed the International Olympic Committee’s directive, embraced the spirit of the times and maintained the effort for gender equality.” 

Spyros Capralos is the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee. GETTY IMAGES
Spyros Capralos is the president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee. GETTY IMAGES

“For Giannis, there was unanimity, but for the women there was a vote among distinguished champions who have honoured Greece, as mandated by the democratic process. In the end, Antigoni was chosen and I would like to congratulate both her and Giannis for their selection. I am confident that they will represent our country with pride. I would also like to congratulate the other three champions who took part in the voting,” he added. 

‘Anteto’ has been playing for the Milwaukee Bucks since 2013 and is one of the NBA’s global stars, having won the championship as MVP of the 2021 Finals. He has played in the All-Star Game eight times and will try to win his first medal with the Greek team, coached by legendary former player Vassilis Spanoulis. 

A late bloomer, Drisbioti (or Ntrismpioti) won the 20km and 35km European Championships at Munich 2022 at the age of 38 and the 35km bronze at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest at the age of 39, ten years after winning 20km gold at the Mersin 2013 Mediterranean Games.



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