It is not often that we hear of Greek athletes winning gold medals in archery, let alone Greek athletes who excel abroad, and this was the occasion to talk to two “golden” children of archery.
The reason for Anastasia Alexopoulou and George Papapakonstopoulos, both athletes of AOP Ermis who did very great things in the OPEN ARCHERY TOURNAMENT and EUROPEAN YOUTH CUP 2024 international archery competitions organized in Sofia, Bulgaria, a few days ago.
The 16-year-old athletes also distinguished themselves as a pair, following winning the gold medal in the mixed U18 Team with the Greek team of the European youth cup 2024, but also individually.
Initially, Giorgos Papakonstantopoulos took 1st place in the U18 compound category (teenagers) and Anastasia Alexopoulou took 3rd place in the U18 compound category (teenagers).
These are just two of the talented children that the coach of AOP Ermis, Manthos Stremmenos, has been working with for years, who has done an excellent job and this is shown by the results with the Association’s continuous awards in Greece and abroad.
Anastasia Alexopoulou is a student of AOP Ermis and she is a student of the 1st Lyceum in Arsakeion of Patras. She holds the title of champion in the Girls, Juniors and Women’s indoor categories. Multi-champion of open and closed compound bow in two categories, Youth and Women, even though she is only 16 years old.
Giorgos Papakonstantopoulos is 16 years old and a student of the 1st grade of the 7th Lyceum. He is an athlete of AOP Ermis and holder of the pan-Hellenic record (2019) in the compound bow of Pampaion KX. He maintains his position on the podium in indoor and outdoor championships and with remarkable scores. He has won the gold medal and the title of the champion of Greece for women, children and teenagers in the individual compound bow ХХ and in the mixed team of compound bow for adolescents ХХ (2022).
The two golden athletes spoke to “Peloponnisos” and referred to the gold medal they won in Bulgaria, but also to their next goals
-What does this gold medal mean in international competitions?
AA: “Motivation to continue the hard training and effort to continue for even greater distinctions.”
GP: “I am very happy with my overall performance in the tournament, that I reached first place in both singles and mixed with Anastasia. But mainly for my performance in the European Cup, which was a difficult and unprecedented competition. For me, it is the reward of my effort, but above all the beginning and the motivation to continue my effort for greater achievements”.
-What difficulties did you face to achieve this success?
AA: “Initially in Greece there are no facilities for archery, so it was quite difficult to find a place for me and my team to train. In addition, the weather conditions in Bulgaria were quite harsh and it took a long time for us to be able to understand the pitch.”
GP: “In general, I found it difficult to organize my time. Training had to be done every day without affecting my reading or classes. Regarding the race, since it was my first participation outside of Greece, anxiety and pressure were the two biggest difficulties I faced. I guess I wasn’t the only one. Fortunately, with the help of our coaches, we overcame our fears and the Greek team managed to win a total of 5 medals at the European tournament, while at the European Cup they took 4th place in the mixed compound and 8th place in the individual composite and Olympic bow”.
-What is the next target?
AA: “The next bet is the European championship in Romania, in July. I still have a long way to go until then, so for now we continue training.”
GP: “Becoming better and better. To continue to develop my technique and perform well. In July is the European Championship and I would like to be there with a good performance.”
– Are there conditions in Patras for someone to engage in archery at a championship level?
AA: “In Patras, there is definitely the coach Manthos Stremenos and his will to produce good and proper athletes. In terms of facilities and support from the community there is none, apart from the standard congratulations and constant promises that are most often broken.”
GP: “I think that now there are. With the persistence and knowledge of my coach, Mr. Manthou, the athletes of Ermis are constantly distinguished in all the official championships. The infrastructures, the truth is that the first years were not good, but now following a lot of effort we have a federal training center that is constantly improving”.
-How many years have you been practicing archery?
AA: “As an athlete at the level I am now, I have been working systematically for the last 2.5 years, but in general I have been working for regarding 5 years”.
GP: “I am lucky that I shot my first arrow at the age of 11 with the help of Mr. Manthou, my coach until now and he made me love archery. I think I was also the first athlete of AOP Ermis. Then I just liked shooting arrows, but quickly without realizing it a pan-Hellenic record came. Five years later, I understand that now the difficulties have begun”.
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