Greek athletes are flying to Paris on Wednesday morning, where they will represent Greece at the 2024 Olympic Games, which officially begin on Friday.
With chants of “Go Greece,” most of the Greek delegation boarded their flight for the Olympics, which start on July 26 in Paris. Some athletes, like Miltiadis Tentoglou and Lefteris Petrounias, had already traveled to France days earlier, while the basketball team left for Lille directly from Belgrade.
Giannis Antetokounmpo will be one of the two flag bearers for the Greek delegation. However, it is not certain that the entire basketball team will attend the opening ceremony in Paris, as the basketball tournament is taking place in Lille. Nonetheless, Vassilis Spanoulis stated that he cannot prevent any athlete from attending such a grand ceremony.
As for the “blue and white team” flying out at 10 a.m., it consists of the men’s and women’s water polo national teams, as well as swimmers Anna Ntountounaki, Nora Drakou, Georgia Damasioti, Apostolos Christou, Stergios Bilas, Evangelos Makrygiannis, Dimitris Markos, Apostolos Papastathopoulos, Apostolos Siskos, Andreas Vazaios, Konstantinos Eglezakis, Konstantinos Stamou, Evangelo-Ephraim Douma, Odysseas Meladinis, Panagiotis Bolanos, and Kristian Gkolomeev.
Along with them will be the artistic swimmers Evangelia Platanioti and Sofia Malkogeorgou.
Also traveling with them are track and field athletes Antigoni Drisbioti, Emmanuel Karalis, Ariadne Adamopoulou, and Eleni Polak, who had not departed earlier with the SEGAS delegation. Additionally, Elisavet Teltsidou, judokas Theodoros Tsilidis, and fencer Dora Kountoura will be joining them.
Traveling with them are the coaches and support staff, as well as the Head of the Delegation, Petros Synadinos, and the Deputy Head, Iakovos Philippou.
The Pilot’s Message to the Athletes
With the slogan “Go Greece” painted on the body of the Aegean Airlines aircraft, a modern Airbus A320 neo, the Olympic Team’s delegation departed for France, heading to the 2024 Olympics in the City of Light. The flight was filled with dreams and hopes for the participants, as well as the best wishes from all Greeks for a journey worthy of the hard work and efforts they have already put in to compete in the planet’s premier sports event.
From Aegean’s side, which is associated with the great sports achievements of Greek teams both at the team and individual levels, the Chairman of Aegean Airlines, Eftychis Vasilakis, wished good luck to the Greek athletes and emphasized that “today’s Aegean flight is a special flight with the athletes to Paris, and it is an honor that we can support them.”
At the same time, addressing the members of the delegation, he wished them to enjoy this unique opportunity, which, as he said, they have earned through their own efforts. He reminded them that dedication, effort, and hard work can lead to results, but most importantly, they make each athlete’s journey unique. “I wish them good luck and hope we can share a piece of their magic,” Mr. Vasilakis added.