Going to Barcelona
I was personally expecting that I'd win a medal.
Based on my performances in the European championship in Hungary.
But you always worry you may have a bad day.
Only a few people knew about me, only people involved in Weightlifting.
When I arrived in Barcelona, a journalist from Greek TV asked me
what do I expect to achieve in these Games and I said to him that I’m expecting to win a gold medal.
Both the cameraman and the journalist looked at each other with surprise as if they thought this guy is crazy.
I started by lifting 162.5kg and it was a really good attempt.
I lifted 165kg in the European championship two months before the Games and got third place,
whilst first place was 167kg.
I knew that if I could lift 167kg in Barcelona I would definitely win a medal but didn’t know which one yet.
When I failed in my first attempt in 167kg, there were 5-6 other failed attempts made by other athletes
and mine was the seventh one.
Going into my third attempt I said to myself I have to succeed
so gave my best performance and everything worked perfectly.
I didn’t start too high in the clean and jerk.
I had lost a lot of weight during my training and I felt that affected me during the Games,
especially in the clean and jerk.
Things didn’t unravel the way we hoped for us
but things didn’t go well for the other athletes either and that was good for us in the end.
For Greece!
When I failed the second time on 207.5kg
I didn’t believe the Polish athlete could win against me because even though we were tied,
I had a lighter body weight.
When Siemion failed in his attempt I knew that I had won a medal but I didn’t know what colour it would be.
When I saw the Greeks, my coaches, the President of the Weightlifting Federation and my friends celebrating,
I started celebrating too but I still didn’t know which medal I had won.
but when the crowd started cheering “it is gold, it is gold” I shivered.
I had the chance to take part in the Games that took place in my country
and this is not something that happens often.
Being part of those Games was more important than actually winning a medal.
I wanted to compete for myself and for the crowd to enjoy the Games
and for these Games to be my leaving party.
People were expecting me to win and get medals.
Back then I was going through a really tough time as I was growing older and had many injuries.
Surely when you are unknown people don’t know you and they don’t expect anything from you
but when they get to know you they expect big things from you.
People say it is easy to become an Olympic champion but it is very difficult to sustain your status.
I went to the Games thinking I would come last.
I said to myself compete even if you come last, and whatever you win is a bonus.
Go and enjoy the Games, do it for yourself and the people.
I wanted to start my first attempt by lifting 167kg,
but during warm-up, I realised my wrist was hurting me
I spoke to the doctor and they said we need five minutes.
My coach, Lakovou, said in order to do that we would have to go for 170kg in our first attempt,
and that’s what we did.
Discussing with my coach about the second attempt, we decided to go for 172kg,
as there was not much difference between 172kg and 175kg to me.
My experience, my will and the people supporting me made it very clear that I had to try for the 175kg.
Of course this (third attempt) was putting me back into the game. This is what we wanted.
The crowd was very supportive,
when I entered the stage the cheering would stop and that helped me a lot.
I felt the crowd by side at that moment and I was very concentrated on what I was doing.
I attempted the 202.5kg, thinking it’s 200kg like what I had done during training, not 202.5,
so when I went for the lift I tried to rely on my leg but it was too weak.
When I lifted it, it felt as if it weighed 500 kilos but I had to complete the lift,
I took a deep breath, thought of my technique, and I pushed the way my coach had told me.
With the 202.5kg we didn’t know if I was going to win a medal
as many other athletes were fighting for a medal too
we just knew that my attempt was good with the 202.5kg.
I was confused when I won the medal.
As I didn’t know what I really wanted, whether it was a gold, silver or bronze medal.
What followed though, at the award ceremony when I got a standing ovation from the crowd
and for 12 minutes everybody would stand still, that was for me the best medal people could offer to me.
It was one of the most beautiful moments I had as an athlete.
I learnt a lot by taking part in those four Olympic Games and winning four medals
I met great athletes and celebrated with my co-athletes’ wins and medals.
I feel blessed for all these great moments I’ve lived.