Antigoni Drisbioti

Antigoni Drisbioti

OLY

Personal information
Born	(1984-03-21) 21 March 1984 (age 41) Karditsa, Greece
Height	1.61 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight	50 kg (110 lb)
Sport
Country	Greece
Sport	Athletics
Event	Race walking
Coached by	Brent Vallance
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	20 km walk : 1.28.12 NR (Melbourne 2023) 35 km walk : 2:41:58 NR (Eugene 2022) Indoors 3000 m walk : 12:18.26i NR (Piraeus 2023)
Medal record Women's athletics Representing   Greece World Championships 2023 Budapest 35 km walk European Championships 2022 Munich 20 km walk 2022 Munich 35 km walk Mediterranean Games 2013 Mersin 20 km walk

Antigoni Drisbioti ( Greek : Αντιγόνη Ντρισμπιώτη; born 21 March 1984 ^[1] ) is a Greek race walker, who is widely considered as the best Greek walker of all time. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Drisbioti won gold medals in the 20 kilometres walk and 35 km race walk at the 2022 European Athletics Championships, the first golden double for Greece at the event. ^[5] She also won the bronze medal in the 35 km race walk at the 2023 World Athletics Championships held in Budapest.

In addition, Drisbioti finished fourth in the 35 km walk at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. In addition, she took bronze in the 20 km walk at the 2013 Mediterranean Games. She represented Greece at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Drisbioti is the Greek record holder for the 3000 m walk, 20 km walk and 35 km walk. She won eight national titles.

In Greece, she was named as the Greek Female Athlete of the Year for 2022 and 2023. ^[6]

Career

Drisbioti was born in Karditsa (Greece), but her family soon had to move to the town of Atalanti for better working conditions. She lived there until the age of 8 before returning to Karditsa, where she completed high school.

Her family run a small taverna in the center of the town, where, according to her own statements in a television interview, she worked for many years alongside her training. She decided to practice walking as a sport as a freshman in high school and made her international debut at the age of 19 at the 2003 European Race Walking Cup held in Cheboksary, Russia. ^{[7] [8] [1]} But the same year, Drisbioti gave up her sporting career, started studying Sports Science and only began to train and dedicate herself to the sport again in 2011 aged 27. ^[8] She is married and lives in Karditsa. ^[9]

Drisbioti celebrated her first major success at age 29 at the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin, Turkey, where she won the bronze medal in the 20 km race walk with a time of 1:41:53. ^[1]

She competed at the Summer Olympics for the first time in 2016 in Rio, finishing 15th in the 20 km walk. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she placed eighth in the event. ^[1]

At the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, the 38-year-old won the gold medal in the 35 km walk with a championship record of 2:47:00 after finishing fourth at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon the previous month in 2:41:58, a national record. With her second gold medal in Munich in the 20 km walk event in a personal best time of 1:29:03, she became the first Greek athlete to win two gold medals at a European Championships. ^{[10] [11]}

On 10 July 2024, the Greek Olympic Committee designated her as the flag bearer for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, along with the Greek professional basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo. ^[12]

Statistics

International competitions

Representing   Greece

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time
2003	European Race Walking Cup	Cheboksary, Russia	16th	10 km walk U20	51:18
2012	Balkan Race Walking Championships	Bucharest, Romania	–	20 km walk	DQ
2013	European Race Walking Cup	Dudince, Slovakia	26th	20 km walk	1:38:46
	Mediterranean Games	Mersin, Turkey	3rd	20 km walk	1:41:53
	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	28th	20 km walk	1:33:42 PB
2014	European Championships	Zürich, Switzerland	24th	20 km walk	1:35:54
2015	European Race Walking Cup	Murcia, Spain	27th	20 km walk	1:35:00
2016	World Race Walking Team Championships	Rome, Italy	39th	20 km walk	1:34:11
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	15th	20 km walk	1:32:32
2017	European Race Walking Cup	Poděbrady, Czech Republic	–	20 km walk	DNF
	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	24th	20 km walk	1:32:03
2018	European Championships	Berlin, Germany	13th	20 km walk	1.32:16 SB
2019	Balkan Race Walking Championships	Alexandroupolis, Greece	–	20 km walk	DNF
	European Race Walking Cup	Alytus, Lithuania	9th	20 km walk	1:33:22
	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	22nd	20 km walk	1:38:56
2021	European Race Walking Team Championships	Poděbrady, Czech Republic	1st	35 km walk	2:49:55 PB
	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	8th	20 km walk	1:31:24 SB
2022	World Race Walking Team Championships	Muscat, Oman	6th	20 km walk	1:34:54
	World Championships	Eugene, OR, United States	4th	35 km walk	2:41:58 NR
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	1st	20 km walk	1:29:03 PB
			1st	35 km walk	2:47:00 CR
2023	European Race Walking Team Championships	Poděbrady, Czech Republic	1st	20 km walk	1:29:17
	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	15th	20 km walk	1:30:19
			3rd	35 km walk	2:43:22
2024	European Championships	Rome, Italy	16th	20 km walk	1.33:38 SB
	Olympic Games	Paris, France	22nd	20 km walk	1:31:33 SB

National titles

• Greek Athletics Championships
  • 20 kilometres race walk (3): 2018, 2020, 2023
  • 35 kilometres race walk (2): 2021, 2022
• Greek Indoor Athletics Championships
  • 3000 metres race walk (3): 2020, 2021, 2023

References

1. "Antigoni NTRISMPIOTI – Athlete Profile". World Athletics . Retrieved 1 January 2023.
2. "Η Αντιγόνη Ντρισμπιώτη υποψήφια κορυφαία αθλήτρια για το 2022". ΣΕΓΑΣ – Το Επίσημο Site της Ελληνικής Ομοσπονδίας Στίβου (in Greek). 16 September 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
3. "Πρωταθλήτρια Ευρώπης η Αντιγόνη Ντρισμπιώτη στα 35 χλμ βάδην". euronews (in Greek). 16 August 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
4. Book, The (16 August 2022). "Η χρυσή πρωταθλήτρια Ευρώπης στο βάδην για τη σκληρή προπόνησή της μετά τη δουλειά στην οικογενειακή ταβέρνα – ΤΑ ΝΕΑ". ΤΑ ΝΕΑ (in Greek). Retrieved 19 October 2023.
5. l, f (24 August 2022). "Ntrismpioti's waiting game yields double gold in Munich". European Athletics . Retrieved 24 August 2022.
6. "Bραβεία ΠΣΑΤ 2023: Τεντόγλου και Ντρισμπιώτη οι κορυφαίοι αθλητές για δεύτερη συνεχή χρονιά (PSAT Awards 2023: Tentoglou and Ntrismpioti Named Top Athletes for the Second Consecutive Year)". CNN.gr (in Greek). 21 December 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
7. Roumeliotis, Bill (8 February 2023). "Antigoni Drisbioti: Support from Melbourne Greeks will help me achieve my Olympics dream". The Greek Herald . Retrieved 8 February 2023.
8. Καλόπλαστου, Μαριλένα (17 August 2022). "Αντιγόνη Ντρισμπιώτη, δεν ξέρω πώς θα τελειώσει η ιστορία της, αλλά δεν θα γράψει πουθενά «τα παράτησε»". gazzetta.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 20 August 2022.
9. Πάτας, Βαγγέλης (16 August 2022). "Αντιγόνη Ντρισμπιώτη: Το πρωί τσιπουράδικο, τα μεσάνυχτα προπόνηση – Αθλήτρια ορισμός της συνέπειας!". newsbomb.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 20 August 2022.
10. "Greek lightning strikes twice as Ntrismpioti wins double gold in the race walk in Munich". European Athletics . 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
11. "Τεράστια Ντρισμπιώτη: Χρυσή και στα 20χλμ. βάδην στο ευρωπαϊκό πρωτάθλημα στίβου". in.gr (in Greek). 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
12. "GREECE'S FLAGBEARERS FOR PARIS OLYMPICS ANNOUNCED". Greek Olympic Committee. 11 July 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

External links

• Antigoni Drisbioti at World Athletics
• Antigoni Drisbioti at Olympedia
• Antigoni Drisbioti at Olympics.com
• Antigoni Drisbioti at All-Athletics Archived 15 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine
• http://sportsfeed.gr/panellinio-kleistou-me-no1-fetos-ston-kosmo/

Olympic Games
Preceded by Eleftherios Petrounias Anna Korakaki	Flagbearer for   Greece París 2024 With: Giannis Antetokounmpo	Succeeded by Incumbent