Long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou defended his 2021 Tokyo Olympics gold medal at the 2024 Paris games which was the only one for Greece, which also garnered a silver and seven bronzes just ahead of the finish.

At that point, Greece was 38th in the list of countries making the podium but Tentoglou declined an offer to carry the flag at the closing ceremony, saying he would prefer to do it at the opening of the Los Angeles 2028 games.

“I want to make my country proud by standing at the top of the podium. I hope to be Greece’s flag bearer at the Los Angeles Olympics, if possible,” the 26-year-old jumper said at a sponsorship event.

He turned down the offer to carry the flag at the Paris opening ceremony, which was on boats in the Seine River, not in a stadium as had always been the case before – Greece is always the first country to enter as the home of the Olympics.

Tentoglou’s passing on carrying the flag meant the likely candidate would be Greek-Ugandan Emmanouil Karalis, who won bronze in the pole vault after finishing fourth in Tokyo.

Apostolos Christou narrowly missed winning a gold medal in the men’s 200-meter backstroke, getting the silver after finishing just .056 seconds behind Hungarian Hubert Kos, who caught him in the last few meters.

Theodoros Tselidis won a bronze medal in judo and then Zoe Fitsiou and Milena Kontou clinched the bronze medal in the women’s lightweight double sculls after Petros Gkaidatzis and Antonios Papakonstantinou won bronze in the men’s event.

Eleftherios Petrounias, gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Games, got his second bronze in a row in the Men’s Rings gymnastics event – he finished third in Tokyo and this time in Paris he was behind two Chinese athletes.

But the women’s pole vault proved to be a disappointment as 2016 gold medalist Katerina Stefanidi, who finished fourth in Tokyo, could do no better than ninth in Paris, failing to clear 4.8 meters.

Fellow pole vaulter Ariadne Adamopoulou withdrew from the final after suffering an injury and said that an MRI revealed she had a second-degree strain that wouldn’t allow her to go on despite being so close.

“I am very sad about this development, but I have to put my health first,” Adamopoulou said, which left Stefanidi as the lone Greek left after Eleni-Klaoudia Polak was disqualified and provisionally suspended after she tested positive for banned substances, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said.

The Greek Olympic Committee earlier said one member from the team was expelled but wouldn’t say who it was.

Polak cleared a height of 4.20 meters but did not reach the final after failing to get over the 4.4 meter bar and was listed as DQ in the results, although she denied she had taken any banned drugs.

“A few days ago something was found in my sample,” she told reporters in the mixed zone after competing in the preliminary round. “I have never taken supplements or protein. It was below the level of what is banned so that is why I competed. I have an issue with iron and have to eat red meat daily and that must have been in the meat,” she said.

And even with NBA and Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo finally playing in the Olympics, Greece’s men’s team lost in the quarterfinals to Germany, 76-63 after advancing with a 77-71 win over favored Australia.

In sailing, Pavlos Kontides of Cyprus won silver in the men’s dinghy event, doubling his country’s medal count after he won Cyprus’ first Olympic medal ever in 2012 in men’s laser sailing. “Celebrating Kontides’ triumph, the Cyprus Olympic Committee pointed out that he is only the sixth athlete in the history of his discipline to win multiple Olympic medals,” Cyprus Mail reported.

President Nikos Christodoulides congratulated Kontides: “Today is a historic day for our country and its sports, since our champion Pavlos Kontides won for the second time a silver medal at the Olympic Games… I want to express the Cypriot people’s feelings of deep emotion and joy at the feat of our champion, who once again has raised Cypriot sports to the highest level of world sport. Pavlos Kontides has made Cyprus proud, and we are all deeply grateful for his excellent achievement.”