Greece sends 441 athletes to Olympics
Greece’s Olympic Committee yesterday presented the list of the team that will participate in next month’s Athens Olympics. «This Olympic squad has three main features. First, it is the most numerous in the history of the modern Olympics. Second, we will participate in every team sport, except for field hockey. Third, the women’s participation is almost 50 percent,» said squad leader Yiannis Papadoyiannakis. There are 441 athletes – 223 men and 218 women – on Greece’s Olympic team. The previous record was the 240-strong, all-male squad that took part in the first modern Olympics in 1896, also held in Athens. The athletes will start moving into the Olympic Village tomorrow. Only the sailing team will stay at Aghios Cosmas, next to the sports venue. A total of 527 athletes had been tested for doping between June 14 and July 25. The results of 493 of these tests have arrived, all negative. Weightlifter Pyrros Dimas, at 32 trying for a record fourth consecutive gold medal, will be the squad’s flag-bearer.
