Charalampos Taiganidis

Greece

Swimming

Biography

Impairment information

Type of Impairment

Vision impairment

Classification

S12, SB12, SM12

Further personal information

Family

Partner Sofia, children Panagiotis-Gavriil and Eleni-Rafaela

Residence

Thessaloniki, GRE

Occupation

Personal Trainer, Public Servant

Languages

English, Greek

Higher education

Physical Education - Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: Greece

Sport specific information

When and where did you begin this sport?

He took up the sport in 1985 at the Ethnikos Kozanis club in Greece.

Why this sport?

He began swimming to overcome his fear of water.

Club / Team

Megalonissos: Heraklion, GRE

Name of coach

Georgios Adaam

International debut

Year

2004

Competing for

Greece

Tournament

Paralympic Games

Location

Athens, GRE

General interest

Hobbies

Fishing. (Athlete, 12 Sep 2019)

Memorable sporting achievement

Winning two gold, three silver and one bronze medal at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. (Athlete, 12 Sep 2019)

Most influential person in career

Coach Georgios Adaam, his family. (Athlete, 12 Sep 2019)

Hero / Idol

US swimmer Mark Spitz. (Athlete, 12 Sep 2019)

Sporting philosophy / motto

"Sport makes us strong, it enables us to manage things that we might never have imagined that we could achieve. Impairment is not a disease, we simply do things in our own way as every human being does." (urbanlife.gr, 12 Oct 2016)

Impairment

In 2003 he was diagnosed with a degenerative visual condition. (Athlete, 12 Sep 2019)

Other information

OCCUPATION
He works as a civil servant in the police force in Greece. (Athlete, 12 Sep 2019)

Results

		Unit	Date	Rank

IPC Swimming World Championships Eindhoven 2010 (Eindhoven, Netherlands)
Event	Unit	Rank
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Final Round	3
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Heat 2	2
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Final Round	2
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Heat 2	2

Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games (Beijing, China)
Event	Unit	Rank
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Heat 2	1
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Final Round	2
Men's 100 m Freestyle S13	Heat 2	1
Men's 100 m Freestyle S13	Final Round	1
Men's 400 m Freestyle S13	Heat 1	3
Men's 400 m Freestyle S13	Final Round	3
Men's 100 m Butterfly S13	Heat 3	1
Men's 100 m Butterfly S13	Final Round	2
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Heat 2	1
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Final Round	1
Men's 200 m Individual Medley SM13	Heat 1	4
Men's 200 m Individual Medley SM13	Final Round	2

IPC Swimming World Championships Durban 2006 (Durban, South Africa)
Event	Unit	Rank
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Heats	3
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Final Round	1
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Final Round	1
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Heats	2
Men's 400 m Freestyle S13	Final Round	1
Men's 100 m Butterfly S13	Heats	1
Men's 100 m Butterfly S13	Final Round	1
Men's 100 m Freestyle S13	Heats	2
Men's 100 m Freestyle S13	Final Round	1
Men's 200 m Individual Medley SM13	Heats	1
Men's 200 m Individual Medley SM13	Final Round	1
Men's 400 m Freestyle S13	Heats	2

Athens 2004 Paralympic Games (Athens, Greece)
Event	Unit	Rank
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Heat 2	1
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Final Round	2
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Heat 2	1
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Final Round	1
Men's 100 m Butterfly S13	Heat 1	1
Men's 100 m Butterfly S13	Final Round	1

London 2012 Paralympic Games (London, Great Britain)
Event	Unit	Date	Rank
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Final Round	2012-09-01	7
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Heat 2	2012-09-01	4
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Heat 2	2012-09-03	2
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Final Round	2012-09-03	3

2013 IPC Swimming World Championships (Montreal, Canada)
Event	Unit	Date	Rank
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Heat 1	2013-08-15	7
Men's 50 m Freestyle S13	Final 1	2013-08-15	8
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Heat 1	2013-08-17	6
Men's 100 m Backstroke S13	Final 1	2013-08-17	5

2015 IPC Swimming World Championships (Glasgow, Great Britain)
Event	Unit	Date	Rank
Men's 100 m Backstroke S12	Final 1	2015-07-15	5
Men's 100 m Backstroke S12	Heat 1	2015-07-15	6
Men's 50 m Freestyle S12	Final 1	2015-07-18	8
Men's 50 m Freestyle S12	Heat 1	2015-07-18	8

Rio 2016 Paralympic Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Event	Unit	Date	Rank
Men's 100 m Backstroke S12	Final Round	2016-09-14	4
Men's 100 m Backstroke S12	Heat 2	2016-09-14	3
Men's 50 m Freestyle S12	Final Round	2016-09-17	6
Men's 50 m Freestyle S12	Heat 3	2016-09-17	3

Mexico City 2017 World Para Swimming Championships (Mexico City, Mexico)
Event	Unit	Date	Rank
Men's 100 m Backstroke S12	Final 1	2017-12-02	1
Men's 100 m Backstroke S12	Heat 1	2017-12-02	2
Men's 100 m Butterfly S12	Final 1	2017-12-04	2
Men's 50 m Freestyle S12	Final 1	2017-12-05	2
Men's 50 m Freestyle S12	Heat 1	2017-12-05	3