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Did you know that Greece has never won a single medal at the Winter Olympics? By comparison, Greece has won 129 medals at the Summer Olympics – 36 gold, 46 silver, and 47 bronze – placing the country 37th in the all-time medal table.

There are several reasons why Greece struggles so much in the Winter Olympics compared with the Summer Games. For example, there is far less investment in and attention to winter sports, as the Summer Olympics are generally seen as far more important. Greece’s Mediterranean climate is another factor: it is largely hot and dry, and although there is snow in some regions, particularly in northern Greece, it is not extensive enough to sustain large-scale facilities or broad public interest in winter sports.

© Hellenic Olympic Committee

Greece’s delegation for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, consists of just five athletes, on par with Moldova and Armenia. By contrast, the Czech Republic – a country with a similar population to Greece – is sending a delegation of 114 athletes. The official uniforms of the Greek delegation for Milan-Cortina 2026 were designed by ANTA, a leading Chinese sportwear brand and Official Sportwear Partner of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and include a comprehensive range of footwear, clothing and accessories, designed for ceremonies as well as for everyday use.

© Hellenic Olympic Committee

In this article, we will focus on the five athletes who will represent Greece at this year’s Winter Olympics.

Nefeli Tita

© Hellenic Olympic Committee

Nefeli Tita is a 23-year-old Greek cross-country skier from Florina and a medical student in Athens. She carried the Greek flag at the opening ceremony of the Milano–Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and will compete in the 10 km freestyle and team sprint events.

Born on February 11, 2003, in Florina—a region with a strong winter sports tradition—she was introduced to skiing at around the age of four. Her father, Christos Titas, a ski coach, has been a key figure in her athletic development. She competes for the Florina Athletic Club and has achieved multiple national and Balkan Championship successes.

Tita regularly participates in international FIS events, delivering strong performances, and has raced at World Ski Championships against top global athletes. Milano–Cortina 2026 will not be her first Olympic experience: she represented Greece at the 2020 Lausanne Winter Youth Olympic Games and competed in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Alongside her sporting career, she studies at the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, successfully balancing elite-level sport with demanding medical studies.

Apostolos Angelis

Facebook / © Hellenic Olympic Committee

Apostolos Angelis, born on 24 June 1993, is the oldest member of the team. He is a student of Physical Education and Sport and works as a ski coach. He is based in Anilio, a village near Metsovo in Ioannina, and has played for Metsovo’s football club.

Sports: Biathlon and cross-country (endurance) skiing. He has been a member of the Greek national team since 2008.  He will compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in the following sports: 20 km (10 km classic + 10 km free technique), Individual Classic Technique Sprint & 10 km Free Technique

National achievements:

  • Greek champion in all categories of cross-country skiing and biathlon.

International achievements:

  • Multiple 1st-place finishes in the Balkan Games (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)
  • Top-10 finishes in Rollerski World Cups and World Championships (2013, 2015)
  • 10th place in the Men’s World Endurance Championship (2015)
  • 18th place at the World Summer Biathlon Championships (2019)

Major event participations:

  • Winter Olympics: 2014, 2018, 2022
  • World Junior Biathlon Championships: 2012–2014
  • World Youth Endurance Championships: 2014–2016
  • Biathlon World Championships: 2015–2017, 2019, 2021
  • World Endurance Rollerski Championships: 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021

Honors:

  • Recognised in 2022 by PSAT as the best Greek skier of the previous decade
  • Only Greek skier to compete continuously at the top biathlon level (World Cups/World Championships) for five consecutive seasons
  • First Greek torchbearer in 2018 and flagbearer at the 2022 Olympic Games

Konstantina Charalambidou

© International Biathlon Union

Konstantina Charalambidou is a Greek cross-country skier and biathlete from Drama, born on July 13, 2002. She is a member of the Greek team for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, where she will compete in the 10 km freestyle and the team sprint.

She started cross-country skiing at the age of 15 at the Falakro ski resort near Drama. She represented Greece at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, where she placed 89th in the 6 km sprint and 90th in the 10 km race. In the 2022 Balkan Cross-Country Skiing Cup, she finished 13th overall with 130 points.

At the 2022 Greek Cup, she won the 6 km sprint at the Greek Championships with a time of 19:18.100 and topped the Greek Cross-Country Skiing Cup rankings with 75 points.

Her biathlon achievements include competing at the 2024 Biathlon World Championships in the Czech Republic, where she formed, together with Apostolos Angelis, the first Greek team ever to compete in a relay event at a Biathlon World Championship (Single Mixed Relay), finishing 27th. She also placed 77th in the 7.5 km sprint at the 2024 European Championships with a time of 28:26.4.

In January 2026, she took 49th place in an IBU 7.5 km sprint in Slovakia with a time of 22:35.1 and 9/10 shooting, achieving a new Greek record in points. She is also professionally trained as a sports coach.

Maria Eleni Tsiovolou

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Maria Eleni Tsiovolou was born on 7 January 2001 in Volos and comes from a non-skiing family. She will compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in the giant slalom and slalom.

She started skiing at the age of seven with EOS Volou, just for fun, together with her brother Stavros, who is also a national-level alpine skier. She began to take the sport seriously when former national team athlete Alexandros Tsaknákis took over her pre-competition group, and he remains her coach to this day.

In Greece, her achievements are outstanding. She has dominated the U14 and U16 categories over the last four years and has won the Greek Cup for four consecutive years in the U16 category. She holds multiple national titles in slalom and giant slalom (she narrowly missed the 2015 slalom title due to a fall).

Her race record is impressive:

  • Slalom (13 races): 10 × 1st places, 2 × 2nd places, 1 DNF
  • Giant slalom (11 races): 10 × 1st places, 1 × 3rd place

Internationally, she has produced strong performances in children’s categories. Her biggest highlight so far is a 2nd place in the giant slalom in Vratna, Slovakia.

Her coach describes her as exceptionally focused in both training and competition, known for her persistence and for never wasting a single training run. She is determined to prove that Greek alpine skiing is not a “poor relative” but can be genuinely competitive on the international stage.

In her latest interview, she stated that her main seasonal goal was to meet the qualification standard for the FIS World Junior Championships in Davos, Switzerland. To achieve this, she trained intensively with coach Tsaknákis: physical preparation in Greece from June onward, on-snow training on European glaciers, and 40 days of training in winter conditions in New Zealand.

The target was demanding, as no other Greek woman of her age had ever gone below 100 FIS points. She not only met the challenge but surpassed it, achieving 85 FIS points. Her next goal is to lower her FIS points even further in both slalom and giant slalom.

Alexandros “AJ” Ginnis

© Green Mountain Valley School

Alexandros Ginnis, internationally known as AJ Ginnis, is a Greek-American alpine skier who specialises in slalom and has made history for both the United States and Greece in international skiing. He is set to compete in slalom at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Born in Athens in 1994 and raised in Vouliagmeni, he began skiing at age two at Mt. Parnassus, inspired by his father, who ran a ski school. He moved with his family to Austria at age 12 and then to the United States at 15, where he attended Green Mountain Valley School in Vermont. He joined the U.S. Ski Team at 17 and later raced for Dartmouth College while working his way back from injuries.

His career highlights include his World Cup debut in 2014 in slalom at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, and a bronze medal in slalom at the 2015 Junior World Championships, representing the United States. His progress has been repeatedly interrupted by serious knee injuries, including more than five surgeries and the loss of the 2018–2019 season. He re-qualified for the U.S. World Cup team in 2020 while still racing in college.

In January 2021, Ginnis became the first Greek alpine skier to score World Cup points for Greece, finishing 11th in slalom at Flachau, Austria. He earned praise from the Hellenic Olympic Committee for his role in advancing alpine skiing in Greece.

His biggest achievements include his first World Cup podium in February 2023, when he finished 2nd in slalom at Chamonix—the first-ever World Cup alpine podium for a Greek skier—and a silver medal in slalom at the 2023 World Championships in Courchevel, representing Greece. World Cup standings show steady progress, with his best slalom rankings in the low 20s (23rd in both 2023 and 2024). Overall, he has one World Cup podium and three top-10 finishes, all in slalom.

Overall, the Greek delegation is prioritising quality over quantity, as all five athletes boast impressive records and individual accomplishments. Will any of them finally win Greece’s first-ever Winter Olympic medal? Regardless of the outcome, the Greek delegation will give its best effort and make Greece — and Greeks everywhere — proud.

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