Pigi Devetzi

Silver medal, August 23, 2004, Pigi Devetzi, triple jump. Athens 2004

Pigi Devetzi emphasized in her statements at the beginning of the summer that her first goal was to participate in the final and then win a medal. She entered the final with a performance of 15.32, a new record for Greece, a performance that made it clear not only to her but to everyone that the place on the podium was now an end in itself. She started the final hesitantly and a bit nervous, which is why her first two jumps were under 15 meters. They were 14.96 and 14.59, only to attack right after with jumps of 15.14 and 15.25, which earned her the silver medal. This did not change until the end, as the 15.30 of Mbango from Cameroon – 2nd and 6th attempt – was enough for the victory, while the 15.14 of Lebedeva from Russia only brought her closer to the first two places. Devetzi from Alexandroupoli celebrated her success exuberantly – with gymnastic exercises – accompanied by the enthusiastic expressions of the Greek fans.

The final ranking: Mbango (Cameroon) 15.30 Devetzi (Greece) 15.25 Lebedeva (Russia) 15.14 Smith (Jamaica) 15.02 Aldama (Soudan) 14.99 Rahouli (Algeria) 14.86 Martinez (Italy) 14.85 Pyatykh (Russia) 14.79