Spyros Gianniotis: Silver medalist in Rio 2016 10km swimming, ‘golden’ champ in fair play

In a show of great sportsmanship he turned down chance to challenge results

In a dramatic finish of the 10km open swimming marathon, Spyros Gianniotis picked up the silver medal at the photo finish, after registering the same time as Dutch swimmer Ferry Weertman (1:52:29). Gianniotis, who was leading a pack of 50 swimmers in the last 300 metres looked as though he would touch the overhead white board first as his body had crossed the finish line first, but his opponent managed to lunge and touch the white board before him to grab gold. The 36-year-old Greek, who said he would retire after the Rio 2016 Olympics, displayed a high degree of sportsmanship as he declined the opportunity to challenge the photo finish and dispute his Dutch opponent’s win, despite the initial thoughts by the Greek team to submit an official objection.