Press Release: Greece tops medals table at 2008 European Rowing Championships

Host nation of the 2008 European Rowing Championships, Greece, proved they are a new force to reckon with in rowing, taking gold medals in five of the 14 events. Olympic silver medallists in Beijing, Vasileios Polymeros and Dimitrios Mougios added European Championship gold to their collection in the Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls, while Chrysi Biskitzi and Alexandra Tsiavou successfully defended their 2007 title in the Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls. Beijing Olympian Ioannis Christou took away gold in the Men’s Single Sculls and Georgios Tsiompanidis and Pavlos Gavriilidis followed suit in the Men’s Pair. Nikolaos Gkountoulas, Apostolos Gkountoulas, Ioannis Tsilis and Georgios Tziallas earned gold in the Men's Four.

Greek National Head Coach Gianni Postiglione says: "The Greeks showed their strong will to demonstrate they are great rowers. They had many difficulties in the last four years and had to change a lot of things such as methodology and technique to overcome the delay they had in comparison with the other countries. The strong will of all – rowers, coaches and the federation – enabled us to achieve these results today."

Ukraine finishes the 2008 European Rowing Championships in second position with two gold and three bronze medals, while France and Romania finish third equal with two golds and one bronze each.

The European Championships were re-established in May 2006, after last being held in 1973. The first edition of the newly reinstated European Rowing Championships regatta was held last year in Poznan, Poland. Brest, Belarus will play host to next year's edition from 18 to 20 September 2009.
 

Go to www.worldrowing.com for race reports, results, medals standings and the photo gallery.

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FISA media officer in Schinias
Debora Feutren
Mobile: +41 79 793 5600
e-mail: debora.feutren@fisa.org