Statistics:
European Records
All time European lists

Janne Holmen of Finland leads from the beginning to win European Marathon title
August 11. Finnish Jane Holmen lead the European Championships Marathon straight from the beginning to win it in a personal best time of 2 hours 12 min. 14 sec. On the first Track final of the 6th and final day of the Munich Eurochamps, Frnace managed to overcome the will of the home team for gold and won the 4 X 100 m. Women's race. Combe, Hurtis, Felix and Sidibe ran the 400 m. distance in 42" 46., while Germany was second with 42" 54. and Russia third with 43" 11. On the medal table, before the last day of the games started it was Russia that still kept the lead (7-6-5), followed by Spain (5-3-4) and Great Britain (5-1-6). The British hope that their two teams at the Men's Relays wil seize gold and give them hopes for the first place overall. The Greek team remains fourth.

Jackson wins fourth European Title, like Backley did yesterday
August 10. Italian Maria Guida managed to overcome the pressure from home favorites Zaituc and Oberem and win the Marathon on the Munich Eurochamps, with 2 hours 26' 05", which is a new Competition Record. It was the first final of the 5th day of the games. In a slow Steeple race, Antonio Jimenez was the winner with 8' 24" 34. Colin Jackson won yet another title, after running the 110 m H. in 13" 11. It is his fourth consecutive title, a rare achievement in the world of athletics. After Friday's impressive results the whole world of Track and Field speaks about Greek star Kenteris (Olympic, World and European Champion of the 200 m.) and of course of Steve Backley, who also (like Jackson) managed to win his fourth European title! On the medal table, Russia is still on top (6-6-3), however Great Britain is threatening her lead (5-1-6). Greece, who was second until today, is now fourth (4-0-2) as Spain (4-3-4) managed to pass her as well. Other European Champions of the 5th day include Irina Korzhanenko (20, 64 m. at the Shot Put), Marta Dominguez (15' 14" 76. at the 5000 m.) and Karolina Kluft (6542 points at the Heptathlon).

19" 85: Kenteris claims the throne of the European 200m. from legendary Mennea
August 10. The European Record of the 200 m. still stands at 19" 72. Nobody was expecting it to fall tonight. However, Kostas Kenteris' 19" 85. gives him a clear clue towards his next goal. Especially now that there are no more titles to challenge. He was the Olympic Champion in Sydney, the World Champion in Edmonton and tonight he completed his hat-trick with the European title. He is the first runner of the 200m. ever to achieve such a record. And even those who doubted him all these years must now admit that his name already stands together with Mennea's on top of the European Athletics History. It was the fastest European Championships 200 m. ever with other four athletes clocking under 20" 40. Francis Obikwelu ran at 20" 21. and Marlon Devonish at 20" 24. Christian Malcom was 4th with 20" 30. and M. Jedrusinski was 5th with 20" 31. On the other fantastic race of the night, Stephane Diaga let nobody doubt who's the best European hurdler. He ran at 47" 58. (the best performance in the world for 2002) and left Jiri Muzik to claim silver at 48" 53... Periklis Iakovakis had a great run and placed 5th with 49" 07. Alexandra Papageorgiou placed 7th at the Hammer Throw Finals, with 66,49 m. which is a new National Record for Greece. Olga Kuzenkova was the winner with 72,49 m. of the first final of the 4th day of the European Championships, held early in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the African Championships are held in Tunis, where Fredericks ran the 100 m. in 9" 93. and Boulami beated the Kenyans at the Steeplechase final.

Manjani claims another golden for Greece
August 09 Mirela Manjani sent the javelin to 67, 47 m., a world leading mark for this season and got the gold medal, in the 3rd day of European Championships. Manjani was world champion in Sevilla, silver medalist in Sydney and Edmonton, as well as the first world record holder with the current javelin type. Steffie Nerius placed 2nd with 64, 09 m., while Mikaela Ingberg got the bronze just on the last attempt.

Attempting a historical triple
August 08. Kostas Kenteris started today in 200 m. heats, running a 20" 55., without any pressure, and was the faster of the 1st round along with Francis Obikwelu. If Kenteris won tomorrow the final, he will be the first european 200 m. runner who matches the Olympic, the World and the European titles. In the other events Chryssopigi Devetzi qualified for the triple jump final with 14, 06 m. and Tania Tambaki will run in the semifinals of the 100 m. hurdles. Olena Govorova surprisingly disqualified from the triple final, while all favourites qualified in the pole vault. Robert Korzeniowski won the 50 Km. Walk in an all time world best 3: 36' 49" In this race Spryos Kastanis placed 14th in 4: 00' 31"

A precious title for lady's collection
August 07. Katerina Thanou verified the forecasts and won the gold medal of the European Championships. Kim Geveart and Manuella Levorato got the other medals, while the event held under strong rain. The European title is added to the glorious career of Thanou, which includes the Olympics silver in Sydney 2000, the bronze medals of the World Championships in Sevilla and Edmonton, as well as a bronze medal in the EuroChamps 98. Thanou was also world indoor champion in Maebashi and double european indoor champion in 1996 and 2000, while she won the gold medal of the world universiade in 1997..

A long night for Greek athletics. Voggoli won the discus gold. Bronze for Kelesidou.
August 07. Four medals in a day for the Greek team, more than the medals won during the whole Championships in 1998, while the Greek team counts already 13 participations in finals. Katerina Voggoli, who wax very stable this year over the 64 m., won the discus gold with a throw at 64, 31 m., leaving the favourite Natalya Sadova in second position. The new European Champion was 5th in EuroChamps 98, 9th in Sydney Olympics and 11th in Sevilla World Champs. Anastassia Kelesidou got one more medal, after the 2 silvers in Sydney and Sevilla. The younger Greek participant Areti Ambatzi was 6th.  Tatyana Kotova won the long jump with 6, 85 m., where Stella Pilatou placed 6th with 6, 58 m. and Heike Drechsler 5th.Great race for Manuel Jose Martinez, the winner of the 10000 m. in 27' 47" 65. and the silver medalist Dieter Baumann who clocked 27' 47" 87.

Dwane Chambers seizes gold with 9" 96. Bronze medal for Alexandros Papadimitriou in the hammer throw
August 07. Dwain Chambers won the men's 100 m. in a european leading mark and personal best 9" 96., followed by Francis Obikwelu (10" 06.) and Darren Campbell (10" 15.). Aris Gavelas placed 7th, while Georgios Theodoridis disqualified with 2 fault starts, loosing a great opportunity to run for a medal. Adrian Annus was the winnner of the breathtaking hammer's final with 81, 17 m., followed by Sevilla bronze medalist A. Piskunov who threw 80, 39 m. At long last, Alexandros Papadimitriou proved his great value in an important championships. Being very serious and mature during the competition, he put up a good fight and finally achieved to get the bronze with 80, 21 m. Alexandros was also finalist in Sydney, where he placed 12th.

Ivanova won the 20Km walk. National records for Tzoumeleka. Papageorgiou and Tsamoglou in hammer final
August 07. Russian Olympiada Ivanova won the first final of the second day, walking the 20Km in 1: 26' 42. Athanassia Tzoumeleka placed 11th with a national record 1: 31' 25", while Athina Papagianni was 9th with 1: 31' 45. Tzoumeleka's mark of 44' 56" in 10Km is also a national record. Periklis Iakovakis qualified for the semifinals of 400 m.h. with a season's best 49"24. Georgia Tsiliggiri cleared 4,00 m. but did not achieve to qualify, in a competition where we had a big surprise, the failure of Monica Pyrek who was 13th with 4, 30 m., the same mark with the last qualifier. Both Alexandra Papageorgiou and Evi Tsamoglou succeded a participation in the hammer throw final.

Radcliffe's triumph under the storm. Shattering of the european record
August 06. An unbelievable race of Paula Radcliffe marks the opening of the European Championships. Under the strong raining Radcliffe followed a hectic pace and crossed the line in a fantastic european record of  30' 01" 09. breaking the 30' 13" 74. set by Christiansen 16 years ago. O' Sullivan placed second with a national record 30' 47" 59. and Russian Biktasheva was third. Chrysa Iakovou placed 13th with a national record for Greece 32' 18" 62. Ukrainian Yuriy Bilonog won the shot put with 21, 37 m., in front of Olssen and Bartels.

Easy race for Katerina Thanou in 11" 07. Theodoridis, Gavelas and Kokloni in the semifinals
August 06. Francisco Fernandez of Spain won the first gold of the 1st day of the European Championships in the 20Km. walk., followed by Vladimir Andreyev and the other walker from Spain Juan Molina. Katerina Thanou won easily the fourth heat of the first round with 11" 07, although under the rain, and goes on in the semifinals. Excellent run for Georgia Kokloni who was 2nd in the second heat and will be also tomorrow in the semifinals. Giorgos Theodoridis won his heat in 10" 25. in front of Gardener and Aris Gavelas was 4th in the third heat with 10" 35.; both will participated in the semifinals. Panayotis Sarris had a very slow start and finished the race in 10" 46. Dwain Chambers was again the faster with 10" 08.; the big favourite for the gold tomorrow. Panayotis Stroubakos was 7th in the first heat of the 1500 m. and disqulified, while Dimitris Sirakos also failed in the high jump.

A great dissapointment for Niki Xanthou. Manjani and Tsiolakoudi in the final
August 06. The disqualification of Niki Xanthou from the long jump final was the hard surprise of the 1st day of the European Championships. The European Indoor Champion had two fault jumps and is out of the top 12 athletes with a jump at 6,12 m. The level of competition was very low, because of the weather conditions and Niki needed only few more cms to qualify. The failure of Nurka Montalvo was the second surprise of the event. In contrast, Stella Pilatou will be in the final of the long jump, as well as both Greek Javelin Throwers, Mirella Manjani - the only who made the standard with 61, 09 m. - and Angeliki Tsiolakoudi with the fifth mark at 58, 51 m.

Voggoli, Kelesidou and Ambatzi in the discus final. Good start for the sprinters
August 06. Katerina Voggoli with 61, 94 m. was the best qualifier in the morning round for the discus throw final. The other two Greeks, Kelesidou (61, 18 m.) and Ambatzi (61, 03 m.) placed 3rd and 4th, while Sadova was just 12th. A very good performance, promising a respective one in the final. Very good start also for Theodoridis, Gavelas and Sarris, all continue to next round of the 100 m. Theodoridis was the second faster qualifier (10" 24.) following Dwain Chambers (10" 23.). Stelios Dimotsios also qualified for the second round of 400 m., where Anastassios Gousis failed to qualify. Kosta Zalagitis was 9th in the triple jump qualification round with 16, 57 m., where British Phillips Idowu jumped 17, 54 m. and Christian Olsson 17, 01 m. Lenis and Meletoglou failed to qualify. Denmark's Olssen tops the shot put qualifying with 20, 45 m. in front of Harju who threw 20, 40 m. Alexandros Papathimitriou was 4th in the morning qualifying. Katerina Thanou, starts the course for the European title today in the afternoon session. Important Greek participations these of Mirela Manjani, Angeliki Tsiolakoudi, Niki Xanthou and Stella Pilatou.

Katerina Thanou targets the European title
August 05.  Katerina Thanou, silver medalist in Sydney and bronze in Edmonton, Sevilla, as well as the European Championships four years ago, starts the course for the European title tomorrow in the morning session of the European Champs. Along with her the discus throwers, Anastassia Kelesidou with two silvers in Sydney and Sevilla and a 4th place in Edmonton, Katerina Voggoli who was also finalist in Sydney and Sevilla and the younger one Areti Ambatzi, also start in the qualification round the effort for a medal. The Greek sprinters, Gavelas, Sarris and Theodoridis, being in a good form, expect a participation in the final, while Kostas Zalagitis has to verify his season best at 17, 43 m. to be classified among the best European triple jumpers. Stamatis Lenis is the second Greek participation in the triple jump, while Alexandros Papadimitriou will attempt to qualify for the hammer's final. Dimotsios and Goussis will also start the 400 m. qualification round tomorrow morning.

The Greek Team leaves Athens tomorrow
August 03. With the exception of Costas Gatsioudis and the women's of triple jump, the other strars of the Greek team will be in Munich next week for the European Championships. Christina Chatzi finally suspended by the Greek Federation for 6 months, because she wasn't controlled after her national record race in Thessaloniki. The record is not recognized. In the last meeting of the Hellenic Grand Prix series Vasilis Segos won the 100 m. in 10" 50., but a pleasant surprise was the National Juniors and U18 record set by Euthimios Stergioulis in Sparta two days ago. In the last international meetings before Munich, Heike Drechsler jumped 6, 85 m. in Leverkusen, while Alicia Turova of Belarus broke the 3000 m. steeple world record with 9' 16" 51. in Gdansk, where Giorgos Kompogiannis participated in the men's steeplechase race and set a personal best of 8' 37" 59. Finally, Eleni Bikaki broke the women's steeple record for Greece, with 10' 14" 96. in Bucurest.