Greece at the 2008 Summer Olympics


Greece, the previous host of the 2004 Olympics at Athens, competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. They were represented by the Hellenic Olympic Committee, which announced on July 28, 2008, the 156 Greek athletes to compete in Beijing, composed of 84 men and 72 women, the largest Greek Olympic team ever excluding the home team of the Athens 2004 Olympics. Greece took part in archery, athletics, basketball, boxing, canoeing, cycling, diving, gymnastics, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, [Synchronized Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics|swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics|synchronized swimming], [Table Tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics|tennis at the 2008 Summer Olympics|table tennis], taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, beach volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.
As the progenitor nation of the Olympic Games, and in keeping with tradition, Greece entered the Beijing National Stadium first during the opening ceremony, led by the judoka Ilias Iliadis, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
The Greek team was originally awarded two silver and two bronze medals. In all four medal cases there was participation by athletes who were also medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Alexandros Nikolaidis won a second Olympic silver medal, Vasileios Polymeros was second after his third place in Athens, while the golden medalist of 2004 Sofia Bekatorou led the yngling class team to the third place. Hrysopiyi Devetzi was third, but eight years later she was disqualified by IAAF and the IOC and had her Olympic bronze medal annulled due to stanozol use.

Archery

Greece will send archers to the Olympics for the third time, seeking the nation's first Olympic medal in the sport. Elpida Romantzi earned the country its first qualifying spot, in the women's competition, by placing 36th in the 2007 World Outdoor Target Championships. Evangelia Psarra placed third at the European qualifying tournament, giving Greece a second spot in the women's individual competition.

Athletics

;Men
;Track & road events
;Field events
;Women
;Track & road events
;Field events
;Combined events – Heptathlon
AthleteEvent200 m800 mFinalRank
Argyro StratakiResult14.051.6813.2225.475.9745.202:14.57589324
Argyro StratakiPoints971830742844840767899589324

Basketball

[Greece national Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics|basketball team|Greece] qualified for the men's basketball tournament through the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men 2008.

Men's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
;Quarterfinals

Boxing

Greece qualified two boxers for the Olympic boxing tournament. Both qualified at the second European continental qualifying tournament.

Canoeing

Sprint

Qualification Legend: QS = Qualify to semi-final; QF = Qualify directly to final

Cycling

Track

Greece will have entries in the men's Keirin and team sprint.
;Sprint
;Keirin

Gymnastics

Artistic

;Men
;Women

Rowing

;Men
;Women
Qualification Legend: FA=Final A ; FB=Final B ; FC=Final C ; FD=Final D ; FE=Final E ; FF=Final F ; SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage

Sailing

;Men
;Women
;Open
M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race;

Shooting

;Men

Swimming

;Men
;Women

Table tennis

;Singles
;Team

Volleyball

Beach

Greece has two teams in the women's Olympic beach volleyball tournament.

Water polo

Greece participated in both the men's and the women's tournaments. The men's team finished in 7th place, while the women's team finished in 8th place.

Men's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
All times are China Standard Time.
;Classification quarterfinal
;Classification semifinal
;Classification 7th–8th

Women's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
All times are China Standard Time.
;Classification 7th–8th

Weightlifting

11 competitors were banned after testing positive for drugs.

Wrestling

;Men's freestyle
;Men's Greco-Roman