GEORGIADOU Despina

Personal Information

Occupation Athlete

Languages English, Greek

Higher education Economics - Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences: Athens, GRE

License number 22061991001

Club

Upcoming Events

Sport Specific Information

When and where did you begin this sport? She began fencing in 2003.

Why this sport? "I got to know fencing through modern pentathlon in 2003. I had tried many sports before fencing and what drew me to it was that it is a demanding sport, both physically and mentally. This combination made me feel complete and made my daily training really interesting."

Club / Team Panathinaikos AO: Athens, GRE

Name of coach Thanasis Delenikas [national]; Christos Sainis [national]

Handedness Left

General Interest

Hobbies Singing, playing guitar. (trifilara.gr, 01 Apr 2020)

Memorable sporting achievement Winning gold in individual sabre at the 2021 Grand Prix event in Orleans, France. (onsports.gr, 30 Nov 2021)

Injuries In 2021 she suffered a leg injury during training and underwent surgery in June that year. (onsports.gr, 30 Nov 2021; sdna.gr, 21 Nov 2021)

Sporting philosophy / motto "Effort, to me, means staying focused on your goals and fighting to achieve them, without being discouraged by difficulties and failures. Every failure shall make you stronger." (corporate.opap.gr, 01 Jan 2019)

Awards and honours She was named Female Athlete of the Year for 2021 by the Panathinaikos AO sports club in Greece. (paopantou.gr, 15 Feb 2022)

Ambitions To compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (Instagram profile, 03 Apr 2022; greekcitytimes.com, 16 Jan 2023)

Other information COVID-19 IMPACT
She tested positive for COVID-19 in March 2021 and had to withdraw from the 2021 World Cup event in Budapest, Hungary, where she had been aiming to secure qualification for the 2020 Olympic Games. She was hospitalised due to the effects of the virus and missed two months of training after experiencing an elevated heart rate and breathing difficulties. "I stayed in Hungary for a whole month, because after I was discharged I had to stay in the quarantine hotel for another week. When I came back to training things were probably even harder, I was afraid I might never be able to come back again. I had tachycardia [a high heart rate] and difficulty breathing. My doctors had banned any sports activity for a month. All of this was really scary for me and my loved ones, who were by my side in any way they could." (onsports.gr, 30 Nov 2021; sdna.gr, 21 Nov 2021; sportsfeed.gr, 13 Mar 2021; Association of Greek Fencing Coaches Facebook page, 13 Mar 2021)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
She has appeared as a football pundit on Greek television. (sportime.gr, 05 Mar 2021)