PARIS – Apostolos Christou narrowly missed winning a gold medal in the men’s 200-meter backstroke at the Paris Olympics, getting the silver after finishing just .002 seconds from a bronze in the 100 meters, Greek competitors winning three bronzes – one in judo and two in rowing.

That came before a scintillating finish that saw Greece’s basketball team, on the edge of being ousted, hanging on to beat Australia, 77-71 after nearly blowing a 17-point halftime lead, saved by a key bucket from an American given Greek citizenship, Thomas Walkup.

Greece was again led by NBA Milwaukee Bucks superstar and the league’s former Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo, despite a suffocating defense put on him, but he made assists in passes to other players who scored.

In the 200 meters, Christou led from the start over the Hungarian favorite Hubert Kos, who was considered unbeatable, and seemed poised for a major upset before being overtaken in the last few meters and touching only .56 seconds behind, giving Greece its first-ever medal in swimming.

That came after 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 also won bronze in the men’s event.

Fitsiou and Kontou finished behind Great Britain and Romania in their Olympic debut, earning Greece its sixth-ever rowing medal and Gkaidatzis and Papakonstantinou were just .11 behind Italy to miss the silver, gold won by Ireland.

It looked like Christou would give Greece its first gold in the games after he led off with a blistering pace in the first 50 meters at 55.14 seconds, faster than American Olympic champion and world record-holder Aaron Piersol in the opening leg.

But Kos showed the stuff of champions and poured it on in the last few meters as Christou faded briefly but still fast enough to break the record for a Greek swimmer in the event, besting the 1:55:42 of Apostolos Siskos, who could do no better than 1:57:77 in the semi-final, missing a spot in the finals.

Speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency after the race Christou said: “This medal is a redemption for me and I still haven’t grasped it. It is a success that I never imagined, although I had set it as a goal. A dream came true.”

Tennis ace Stefanos Kasselakis had the misfortune of facing all-time great Novak Djokovic in tennis and fell to the Serbian for the 13th time in 15 matches, losing 6-3, 7-6 in the semifinals that are 2-of-3 instead of the 3-of-5 events on the tour.

Women’s hopeful Maria Sakkari lost in the round of 16 to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, 6-4, 6-7, 4-6 and she and Tsitsipas couldn’t get past the first round in mixed doubles, losing 7-6, 6-4 to The Dutch duo of Demi Schuurs and Wesley Koolhof.