Famous Female Athletes from Greece
List of popular female athletes from Greece, listed alphabetically with photos when available. Greece has a rich history of competing in sports, and these are the famous females that make that competition so exciting. Some of the best Greek female athletes in the world are listed below, some of who have represented Greece in the Olympics. You can click on the names of these talented female athletes of Greece in order to get more information about each one, such as the birthplace of the athlete and when they were born.
Athletes here include everything from Styliani Tsikouna to Ekaterini Voggoli.
This list answers the questions, "What famous female athletes are from Greece?" and "Who are the greatest female Greek athletes?"- Mirela Maniani (Greek: ฮฮนฯฮญฮปฮฑ ฮฮฑฮฝฮนฮฌฮฝฮน, [miหrela maหษฒani];, 21 December 1976) is a retired Greek track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. Prior to 1997, she represented Albania.
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / CC-BY-SA-2.0Eleni Daniilidou (Greek: ฮฮปฮญฮฝฮท ฮฮฑฮฝฮนฮทฮปฮฏฮดฮฟฯ ; [eleหni รฐaniหiliรฐu]; born 19 September 1982) is a Greek tennis player from the island of Crete. She is considered as one of the best Greek tennis players of the Open Era, winning five singles titles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour. In 2003, she reached the mixed-doubles final of the Australian Open, making her the first Greek player to have reached a Grand Slam final. Her highest singles ranking is world No. 14, making her the only female tennis player from Greece to have reached the top 20. No male tennis player had achieved this until Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the 15th place on August 13, 2018. By beating Justine Henin in the first round of the 2005 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first player to defeat a reigning French Open champion in the first round of Wimbledon.
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Public domainHrysopiyi "Piyi" Devetzi (Greek: ฮงฯฯ ฯฮฟฯฮทฮณฮฎ ฮฮตฮฒฮตฯฮถฮฎ, [xrisopiหสi รฐeveหdzi], born January 2, 1976) is a retired Greek athlete who competed in the triple jump and long jump. Devetzi was born in Alexandroupoli. She won the triple jump silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics with 15.25 and the triple jump bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics with 15.23. At the 2004 Summer Olympics semifinal she set a Greek record of 15.32 metres. This performance ranked her in the fourth place of all time triple jumpers, after the world record holder, Inessa Kravets, her greatest rival Tatyana Lebedeva and the twice-olympic gold medalist Franรงoise Mbango Etone. She won another silver medal at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, losing the gold at the last jump by Tatyana Lebedeva. The same story was repeated at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, in which "Piyi" lost the 1st place at the sixth jump by Yargelis Savigne. Devetzi was known for often jumping longer in qualification rounds than in finals, as at the 2004 Olympics, and also for her lack of gold so far at major championships, despite being one of the world's leading female triple jumpers.
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / CC-BY-SAVassiliki "Viky" Arvaniti (Greek: ฮฮฑฯฮนฮปฮนฮบฮฎ (ฮฮฏฮบฯ ) ฮฯฮฒฮฑฮฝฮฏฯฮท), also transliterated Vasiliki; born March 17, 1985 in Athens, Greece) is a beach volleyball player from Greece, who won the gold medal at the 2005 European Championships in Moscow, Russia and the 2007 European Championship in Valencia, Spain, partnering Vasso Karadassiou. She represented her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in her home town, with Thaleia Koutroumanidou. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she competed with Karadassiou. She took part in the 2012 London Olympics with Maria Tsiartsiani, who was later injured. Since 2013, her teammate has been Peny Karagkouni, who used to play indoor volleyball.
- Fani Chalkia (Greek: ฮฆฮฑฮฝฮฎ ฮงฮฑฮปฮบฮนฮฌ, [faหni xalหca], born February 2, 1979 in Larissa), also transliterated as Halkia or Khalkia, is a retired Greek hurdler.An athlete of Olympiacos, Chalkia won the gold medal in the women's 400m hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. During the semifinals Halkia set an Olympic record of 52.77 seconds. On August 16, 2008, during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing it was announced that she tested positive for the banned substance methyltrienolone. Chalkia denied she has taken any banned substance, and asked for her 'B' sample to be tested, which also tested positive the next day. On December 12, 2008, the IAAF announced that she would be banned from the sport for two years.
- Niki Bakoyianni (Greek: ฮฮฏฮบฮท ฮฯฮฑฮบฮฟฮณฮนฮฌฮฝฮฝฮท, [หnici bakoหสani], born June 9, 1968) is a retired Greek high jumper. She was born in Lamia.
- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Fair useEkaterini Thanou (Greek: ฮฮนฮบฮฑฯฮตฯฮฏฮฝฮท ฮฮฌฮฝฮฟฯ , [ekateหrini หฮธanu]; born 1 February 1975), also known as Katerina Thanou, is a Greek former sprinter. She won numerous medals in the 100 metres, including an Olympic silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, while she was the 2002 European champion in Munich, Germany. She had also been crowned world and European champion in the 60 metres at the indoor championships. In 2007, Marion Jones, who won in the 100 metres at the 2000 Olympics leaving Thanou in the second place, admitted that she had used steroids and her gold medal was withdrawn by the International Olympic Committee, but was not reallocated to Thanou due to the fact that she was also involved in doping.
- Anastasia "Tasoula" Kelesidou (Greek: ฮฮฝฮฑฯฯฮฑฯฮฏฮฑ ฮฮตฮปฮตฯฮฏฮดฮฟฯ , [anastaหsia celeหsiรฐu], born 28 November 1972 in Hamburg, Germany) is a retired Greek discus thrower best known for winning silver medals at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. During her career she set seven Greek records in discus throw, the best being 67.70 metres.Her only international victory came at the 1997 Mediterranean Games.
- Athanasia Tsoumeleka (Greek: ฮฮธฮฑฮฝฮฑฯฮฏฮฑ ฮคฯฮฟฯ ฮผฮตฮปฮญฮบฮฑ, [aฮธanaหsia tsumeหleka]; born January 2, 1982 in Preveza, Greece) is a Greek race walker, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Until 2003 Tsoumeleka was a largely unknown athlete, and she only finished seventh at the World Championships that year. To everybody's great surprise, she won the Olympic gold medal race held in her own country ahead of Russia's Olimpiada Ivanova (silver) and Australia's Jane Saville (bronze). In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, she finished 9th in 20 km walk. After the end of the Games, a urine sample she had given on August 6 tested positive for erythropoietin, when subjected to a new test for CERA. Tsoumeleka expressed doubts about the validity of the procedure, and then announced her immediate retirement from the sport. On April 29, 2009 it was announced that Tsoumeleka had tested positive for CERA in a test on a blood sample provided during the 2008 Olympics. Her "B" sample also tested positive for CERA. On November 18, 2009 the International Olympic Committee decided to disqualify Tsoumeleka from the Women's 20 km Walk event of the 2008 Olympic Games where she placed 9th.
- Paraskevi ("Voula") Patoulidou (Greek: ฮ ฮฑฯฮฑฯฮบฮตฯ ฮฎ "ฮฮฟฯฮปฮฑ" ฮ ฮฑฯฮฟฯ ฮปฮฏฮดฮฟฯ , born 29 March 1965) was born in Tripotamo (now part of Florina). A prolific athlete, Patoulidou throughout her athletics career competed in the 100 metres, 100 metres hurdles and in the long jump events. Patoulidou became a Greek sporting legend in 1992, when she was the surprise winner of the Women's 100 m hurdles race at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. She was the candidate for the Prefecture of Thessaloniki in the local elections of Autumn 2006 supported by the opposition party of PASOK, but lost the election to Panagiotis Psomiadis.
Evangelia Psarra
Evangelia Psarra (born June 17, 1974 in Thessaloniki) is a Greek archer. She represented Greece at the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.In 2004, she placed 8th in the women's individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 652. In the first round of elimination, she faced 57th-ranked Jo-Ann Galbraith of Australia. Psarra defeated Galbraith 138-116 in the 18-arrow match to advance to the round of 32. In that round, she faced 25th-ranked Turkish archer Zekiye Keskin Satir, defeating her 163-161. Psarra then defeated 24th-ranked Almudena Gallardo of Spain 160-152, advancing to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Psarra faced Park Sung Hyun of Korea, losing to the 1st-ranked and eventual gold medalist archer. The final score of 111-101 in the 12 arrow match placed Psarra 7th overall in women's individual archery. Psarra was also a member of the 5th-place Greek team in the women's team archery competition. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Psarra finished her ranking round with a total of 613 points. This gave her the 50th seed for the final competition bracket in which she faced Chen Ling in the first round. The local Chinese favourite archer won the confrontation with 110-101 and eliminated Psarra straight away.Psarra lost to Bombayla Devi Laishram of India in the first knockout round at the 2012 Summer Olympics.Psarra represented Greece at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, having been called up late after the withdrawal of another athlete. She was defeated by Kaori Kawanaka of Japan during the round of 64.- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / CC-BY-SAVasiliki "Vasso" Karantasiou (Greek: ฮฮฑฯฮนฮปฮนฮบฮฎ (ฮฮฌฯฯ) ฮฮฑฯฮฑฮฝฯฮฌฯฮนฮฟฯ , also transliterated Karadassiou; born January 6, 1973 in Athens, Greece) is a female beach volleyball player from Greece, who won the gold medal at the 2005 European Championships in Moscow, Russia, partnering Vassiliki Arvaniti. She represented her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in her home town, after having competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics as well.
- Anna Verouli (Greek: ฮฮฝฮฝฮฑ ฮฮตฯฮฟฯฮปฮท, born November 13, 1956) is a retired Greek javelin thrower. She was born in Kavala.She won the gold medal at the 1982 European Athletics Championships, and a bronze medal at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics. Verouli was tested positive for nandrolone at the 1984 Summer Olympics and was banned from the competition.She was married to weightlifter Ioannis Tsintsaris.
- Niki Xanthou (Greek: ฮฮฏฮบฮท ฮฮฌฮฝฮธฮฟฯ , [หnici หksanฮธu], born 11 October 1973 in Rhodes) is a Greek long jumper. Xanthou set nine national records in long jump during her career. Her personal best, and national record, is 7.03 metres, achieved in August 1997 in Bellinzona. At the age of 22 she gave an impressive performance in the Olympic games final in Atlanta, in which she took the 4th place with 6,97 m. She won the Mediterranean Games of 1997 in Bari and the European under 23 Cup in 1994. The greatest achievements in her career were the second place in the 1997 World Championships in Athens and the gold medal in 2002 European Indoor Championships in Vienna.
- Anastasia Kostaki (Greek: ฮฮฝฮฑฯฯฮฑฯฮฏฮฑ ฮฯฯฯฮฌฮบฮท; born March 26, 1978 in Athens, Greece) is a Greek professional basketball player playing for Panathinaikos. She is 1.72 m (5 ft 7 ยพ) in height and 65 kg (144 pounds) in weight.
- Sofia Bekatorou (Greek: ฮฃฮฟฯฮฏฮฑ ฮฯฮตฮบฮฑฯฯฯฮฟฯ ; born 26 December 1977 in Athens), is a Greek sailing champion. She has participated in over 470 main class events including 2004 Summer Olympics sailing competition, where she won the gold medal in the women's double-handed dinghy event in the 470 with her pair Emilia Tsoulfa (Greece). After a serious back injury, she won a bronze medal in the yngling keelboat class at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Bekatorou was the first female flag bearer for Greece in the history of Summer Olympics at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, participating in the Olympic Games for the 4th time. She and partner Mike Pateniotis competed in the Nacra 17 event. They finished in 18th place.
- Styliani ("Stella") Tsikouna (Greek: ฮฃฯฯ ฮปฮนฮฑฮฝฮฎ "ฮฃฯฮญฮปฮปฮฑ" ฮคฯฮนฮบฮฟฯฮฝฮฑ also written Stiliani Tsikouna, born October 19, 1972 in Chalcis) is a Greek discus thrower. Her personal best throw is 65.25 metres, achieved in May 2004 in Iraklio. This ranks her third among Greek discus throwers, only behind Ekaterini Voggoli and Anastasia Kelesidou. [1]
Sofia Sakorafa
Sofia Sakorafa (Greek: ฮฃฮฟฯฮฏฮฑ ฮฃฮฑฮบฮฟฯฮฌฯฮฑ, born 29 April 1957) is a Palestinian-Greek politician and former javelin thrower. She was formerly a Member of the European Parliament for Greece as member of the political party MeRA25, having formerly sat for Syriza and before that served, from June 2012 to July 2014, as a Syriza Member of the Hellenic Parliament. She now serves as a deputy speaker in the Hellenic Parliament for the MeRA25 party.Stiliani Pilatou
Stiliani "Stella" Pilatou (Greek: ฮฃฯฯ ฮปฮนฮฑฮฝฮฎ "ฮฃฯฮญฮปฮปฮฑ" ฮ ฮนฮปฮฌฯฮฟฯ , born 28 March 1980 in Heraklion) is a Greek long jumper. Her personal best jump is 6.75 metres, achieved in July 2002 in Volos. This places her fourth in the all-time Greek performers list, behind Niki Xanthou, Paraskevi Tsiamita and Hrysopiyi Devetzi. Pilatou has a better indoor personal best with 6.80 metres.Ekaterini Voggoli
Ekaterini Voggoli (Greek: ฮฮนฮบฮฑฯฮตฯฮฏฮฝฮท ฮฯฮณฮณฮฟฮปฮท, [ekateหrini หvoลษกoli], born October 30, 1970 in Larissa) is a retired Greek discus thrower. She was the 2002 European champion and 2003 World Championship bronze medalist. In June 2004 she beat Anastasia Kelesidou's Greek record by 2 centimetres, throwing 67.72 metres in Athens.- Alexandra Papageorgiou (Greek: ฮฮปฮตฮพฮฌฮฝฮดฯฮฑ ฮ ฮฑฯฮฑฮณฮตฯฯฮณฮฏฮฟฯ , born December 17, 1980) is a female hammer thrower from Athens, Greece. Her personal best throw is 70.73 metres, achieved on August 1, 2009, in Thessaloniki. This places her second on the Greek all-time list, behind Stiliani Papadopoulou.
Irini Terzoglou
Irรญni Terzรณglou (Greek: ฮฮนฯฮฎฮฝฮท ฮคฮตฯฮถฯฮณฮปฮฟฯ , born February 2, 1979 in Serres, Kentriki Makedonia) is a Greek shot putter. Her personal best put is 19.10 metres, achieved in June 2003 in Trikala. This is the current Greek record.Olga Vasdeki
Olga Vasdeki (Greek: ฮฮปฮณฮฑ ฮฮฑฯฮดฮญฮบฮท, [หolษฃa vazหรฐeci], born 26 September 1973 in Volos) is a Greek triple jumper. She was the most successful Greek triple jumper and Greek record holder until 1998, when she won the gold medal at the European Championships in Budapest, being at the time just the second female Greek athlete to be crowned European Champion after Anna Verouli in 1982. The following year she won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Seville behind Paraskevi Tsiamita and Yamile Aldama. She is the younger sister of long jumper Spyridon Vasdekis.Stiliani Papadopoulou
Stiliani ("Stella") Papadopoulou (Greek: ฮฃฯฯ ฮปฮนฮฑฮฝฮฎ "ฮฃฯฮญฮปฮปฮฑ" ฮ ฮฑฯฮฑฮดฮฟฯฮฟฯฮปฮฟฯ , born March 15, 1982) is a female hammer thrower from Greece. She was born in Thessaloniki. Her personal best throw is 72.10 metres, achieved in July 2008 in Nikiti. This is the Greek record.She finished eleventh at the 2008 Olympic Games. She also competed at the 2004 Olympic Games and the 2005 World Championships without reaching the finals.Elpida Romantzi
Elpida Romantzi (born July 17, 1981 in Thessalonica) is an archer from Greece. She placed 34th in the women's individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 624 at the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the first round of elimination, she faced 11th-ranked Bรฉrengรจre Schuh of France. Romantzi defeated Schuh, winning 151-143 in the 18-arrow match to advance to the round of 32. In that round, she faced Lee Sung Jin of Korea, losing to the 2nd-ranked and eventual silver medalist archer 166-146. Romantzi finished 31st in women's individual archery. Romantzi was also a member of the 5th-place Greek team in the women's team archery competition. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing Romantzi finished her ranking round with a total of 614 points. This gave her the 49th seed for the final competition bracket in which she faced 16th seed Zekiye Keskin Satir in the first round, beating the archer from Turkey with 105-103. In the second round she was too strong for Kristine Esebua after both archers scored 102 points in the regular match and a 10-9 score in the decisive extra round. Romantzi was eliminated in the third round by first seed Park Sung-Hyun with 115-103, with the 115 being a new Olympic Record.Maria Lazarou
Maria Lazarou (Greek: ฮฮฑฯฮฏฮฑ ฮฮฑฮถฮฌฯฮฟฯ ; born 30 September 1972) is a retired Greek football player. Lazarou played club football for several clubs in the Greek Women's Alpha Ethniki. She also had a spell in the German Fuรball-Bundesliga with FC Rumeln-Kaldenhausen.Lazarou appeared 111 times for the Greece women's national football team, including six appearances in the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying rounds. She also played for Greece at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.- Photo: Metaweb (FB) / CC-BY-SA
Anna Gerasimou
Anna Gerasimou (Greek: ฮฮฝฮฝฮฑ ฮฮตฯฮฑฯฮฏฮผฮฟฯ ; born 15 October 1987 in Kavala) is a retired Greek tennis player. When she was young, she moved from Kavala to Athens in order to pursue a career in tennis. Gerasimou competed in the women's doubles at the 2008 Summer Olympics with partner Eleni Daniilidou, and lost in the first round to the Swiss team of Emmanuelle Gagliardi and Patty Schnyder. Coached by George Kalovelonis, her highest career singles ranking was 200, which she achieved on 9 March 2009. She has qualified for a WTA main draw twice, both in 2010, in Pattaya City, and in Kuala Lumpur. She also had one WTA doubles main-draw appearance, in Pattaya City in 2010, where she reached the quarterfinals. She retired from tennis 2010. Anna Spyridopoulou
Anna Spyridopoulou is a Greek professional basketball player. She plays for Aris Thessaloniki and Greece women's national basketball team. She has represented national team in EuroBasket Women 2011. She has spent all career in Greece.Cindy Ninos
Cindy Ninos (born March 27, 1972) is a Greek skeleton racer who competed in the early 2000s. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, she finished 13th in the women's skeleton event. Ninos's best finish at the FIBT World Championships was 24th in the women's skeleton event at Calgary in 2001.Evdokia Tsamoglou
Evdokia Tsamoglou (Greek: ฮฯ ฮดฮฟฮบฮฏฮฑ ฮคฯฮฌฮผฮฟฮณฮปฮฟฯ ; born December 15, 1978 in Thessaloniki) is a female hammer thrower from Greece. Her personal best throw is 68.12 metres, achieved in August 2003 in Nikiti, Sithonia. This places her third on the Greek all-time list, behind Alexandra Papayeoryiou and Stiliani Papadopoulou.
