Grigorios Polychronidis

Boccia
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Greg Polychronidis finally won his first major individual gold after 12 years at the 2018 World Championships.

But at first, Polychronidis seemed on his way to the same heartbreaking result from the Rio 2016 Games’ BC3 individual final. The Worlds gold medal clash was a repeat of that Paralympic final, in which Howon Jeong claimed the gold over Polychronidis. But the Greek athlete forced his way back to a tie and came out victorious.

Polychronidis took up boccia with the dream of participating in his home Paralympics at Athens 2004, and since then he has remained a medal contender in the BC3 category.

Although he has reached the No. 1 world ranked position numerous times, he had been searching for an individual gold medal at the Paralympic and World Championship stages.

He was a favourite at the 2016 Worlds in Beijing, China, but had an unfortunate turn. He reached the quarter finals, but his head-pointer was not taken to the call room. It was too late to bring his equipment out, so Polychronidis played without it in his next match and left those Championships without a medal.

That did not discourage Polychronidis ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympics. He was Greece’s flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony, and while that was his fourth Games, it was his first with his fiancée Katerina Patroni as his assistant.

The couple came up short in the gold medal match, losing to South Korea’s Jeong Ho Won. But they held their heads high, and after getting married later that year, their partnership proved strong on the court as Polychronidis has maintained his No. 1 spot.

The 2018 season has started strong for him, with victories at the Madrid Regional Open and Greek National Championships (his 17th consecutive year) among the highlights.

Due to spinal muscular atrophy, which leads to muscle wasting, Polychronidis competes with a ramp to aim his shots and headgear to set them in motion.

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Results

Unit Date Rank
Athens 2004 Paralympic Games (Athens, Greece)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Mixed Individual BC3 Pool N 1
Mixed Individual BC3 Quarterfinal 302
Mixed Individual BC3 Pool N 7
Mixed Individual BC3 Pool N 6
Mixed Individual BC3 Pool N 5
Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games (Beijing, China)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Mixed Pairs BC3 Pool B 6
Mixed Pairs BC3 Pool B 4
Mixed Pairs BC3 Pool B 2
Mixed Individual BC3 Gold Medal Match 101
Mixed Individual BC3 Semifinal 202
Mixed Individual BC3 Quarterfinal 301
Mixed Individual BC3 Pool A 3
Mixed Individual BC3 Pool A 2
Mixed Individual BC3 Pool A 1
London 2012 Paralympic Games (London, Great Britain)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Mixed Pairs BC3 Pool A 2012-09-02 3
Mixed Pairs BC3 Pool A 2012-09-02 1
Mixed Pairs BC3 Semifinal 2012-09-03 202
Mixed Pairs BC3 Pool A 2012-09-03 5
Mixed Pairs BC3 Gold Medal Match 2012-09-04 101
Mixed Individual BC3 Quarterfinal 2012-09-06 303
Mixed Individual BC3 1/8th final 2012-09-06 405
Mixed Individual BC3 Classification 5-6 2012-09-07 101
Mixed Individual BC3 Classification 5-8 2012-09-07 201
Rio 2016 Paralympic Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Mixed Pairs BC3 Pool B 2016-09-10 3
Mixed Pairs BC3 Pool B 2016-09-10 1
Mixed Pairs BC3 Semifinal 2016-09-11 1
Mixed Pairs BC3 Pool B - Standings 2016-09-11 2
Mixed Pairs BC3 Pool B 2016-09-11 5
Mixed Pairs BC3 Bronze Medal Match 2016-09-12 2
Mixed Individual BC3 Pool C 2016-09-13 1
Mixed Individual BC3 Pool C 2016-09-14 3
Mixed Individual BC3 Pool C - Standings 2016-09-14 1
Mixed Individual BC3 Quarterfinal 2016-09-15 3
Mixed Individual BC3 Semifinal 2016-09-15 2
Mixed Individual BC3 Gold Medal Match 2016-09-16 1
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games (Tokyo, Japan)
Event Medal Unit Date Rank
Individual BC3 Group A 2021-08-28 1
Individual BC3 Group A 2021-08-29 4
Individual BC3 Group A 2021-08-30 6
Individual BC3 Semifinal 2021-08-31 2
Individual BC3 Quarterfinal 2021-08-31 4
Individual BC3 Gold Medal Match 2021-09-01 1
Pairs BC3 Group A 2021-09-02 2
Pairs BC3 Group A 2021-09-02 4
Pairs BC3 Group A 2021-09-03 5
Pairs BC3 Group A 2021-09-03 10
Pairs BC3 Bronze Medal Match 2021-09-04 1
Pairs BC3 Semifinal 2021-09-04 1