Living in Melbourne? Consider an early morning start this Sunday for a rare chance to see Greece’s celebrated racewalker Antigoni Ntrismpioti compete at Fawkner Park at 7am.
For many of us, especially those that aren’t sport savvy, Ntrismpioti was a hard to pronounce, unknown name till last August.
She made history at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships, becoming the first Greek female athlete to receive two gold medals at a single athletics event.
But Ntrismpioti’s trajectory as a racewalker is the sum of much more than her two latest golds.
You might find it interesting to learn, that her family history isn’t so different to that which many of us share, not what you might expect from a ‘Golden Girl’.
“But we’re talking way smaller distances!” she laughs.
“My parents moved from Karditsa [Thessaly] to Atalanti [southeast of Lamia] in 1985. Dad’s brother was already living there working in a factory. They went there to find better jobs and a better life; I was one-year-old and had an older sister,” Ntrismpioti tells Neos Kosmos.
“Dad was working as a postie and construction worker, he had two jobs, and mum was doing admin for an office. Mum had started work at the age of 10, she came from a poor family of five siblings. My parents had an age difference of 12 years, dad met mum as a postie and they eloped!”
Upon their return to Karditsa, the Ntrismpioti family had grown larger by four children and embarked on their business venture, opening a tsipouradiko, one that still operates to this day.
Antigoni and her older sister Dora took a share of responsibility in raising their two younger sisters, Elpida and Konstantina, alongside the grandmothers of the family and pappou.
“My parents were at the business all day long till late at night,” Ntrismpioti recalls.
Up to this day, every success for the family, whether in business or on the running track, is the culmination of collective effort – and sacrifice.
“Every race I’ve won, for me it’s a collective win. Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to do it without my family’s help,” she says, explaining that even the decision to come to Australia for a training camp wasn’t taken for granted.
“It fell during the holiday season and didn’t want to leave mum behind working so many hours alone. But the whole family came together to make it happen for me. Imagine, my youngest sister who was on maternity leave arranged for her mother-in-law to take care of the baby during my rosters so she could cover me.”
“As for my husband… it goes without saying.”
“He’s by my side literally all the time, riding the bike as I’m training, day and night. And thankfully he’s openminded, not the kind of person who’d say ‘where are you going and leaving me alone for so long’. So, this is all possible because my family believes in me. If they didn’t and if I didn’t believe in myself, they wouldn’t be able to do all this; what for? But they can see how much I want it. They know that when I have a goal I’ll achieve it one way or the other. And that’s why they’re fighting by my side.”
‘Melbourne’s Sunday race could be a game-changer’
Ntrismpioti speaks with the same confidence when referring to her preparation for the imminent race on Sunday at Melbourne’s Fawkner Park.
It’s also the reason she feels to be in a position to ask for people’s support.
“There are so many Greeks here that could be in that game. It gives me strength, when I know that there are people who believe in me and will come in person to see what they believe I can do.
“And I’ve trained for this. If I hadn’t done the work I wouldn’t feel ready, I wouldn’t invite people to come see the race.”
Ntrismpioti says she’s able to tell from the start of a race, whether she will perform well or not.
On the race that won her the first gold medal of her dual victory at the European Championships she recalls:
“I went to that race with the certainty that I was going to win a medal. I knew how I was going to move. I’d studied my opponents. I knew I couldn’t make any mistakes… and I performed exactly as I’d planned.”
She explains that finishing below a certain time will secure her ticket to the 2024 Olympics.
“It’s a high standard. The qualifying procedure for our sport started on January 1 this year”
The standard to qualify for the Olympics in the 20km racewalking is a time of 1.29.20”. Ntrismpioti had finished first at the 2022 European Championships 20 km race with a time of 1.29.03”.
“If I can do it again on Sunday, it’d be amazing.
“It’s good to reach the Olympic standard from the very start of the qualifying period. You get it out of the way early, you get rid of that anxiety for year and a half that remains till the Games. You can just focus on the Olympics.”
Coach Wanted
Ntrismpioti arrived in Australia some weeks ago, accepting the invitation of highly regarded Australian coach Brent Vallance who’s running an ACU-led research project on athletes’ performance.
“It looks into athletes’ diet before competing at high altitude and metabolic processes in the body.”
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During the training camp period she spent with another 24 athletes, Ntrismpioti achieved a new personal record time in a 10km race in Canberra at the start of January.
“The other option I had was to stay in Karditsa and train there by myself. Whereas here I was amidst an elite athlete group. I was training alongside the Australian who came fourth at the Tokyo Olympics and the Colombian who finished second.”
Alongside a 50-person crew including athletes, dietitians, coaches and former Olympians, Ntrismpioti followed a specific diet and training schedule at an altitude of 1,700m and had tests tracking her performance in simulation of a big race preparation.
“For me it was really important to be in a group like this one. I’m training by myself at this stage so I have to find a really good motive to keep going.”
Speaking for the first time since the end of her collaboration with coach Napoleon Kefalopoulos – just a few months after achieving the double gold in Munich – Ntrismpioti confirms she is in talks with someone, but officially still on the lookout for a coach.
Hence, the decision to kickstart the training season Down Under.
“Back in Greece, I am by myself. Here, I was part of a group.”
‘My first time in Australia won’t be the last’
Ntrismpioti entered the world of sports at the age of 3 with gymnastics and had a stint in swimming till her early teens, an experience she credits with “shaping” her body.
“Swimming is a type of sport that doesn’t burden your body and helps shape a child’s physique and strengthen it to protect from injuries in other sports.”
Throughout her adult life – and part of her childhood – Ntrismpioti has worked at the family business. She only started feeling like a professional athlete fairly recently, she admits.
“And up until a few years ago, I wasn’t even thinking I had a chance at the Olympics.”
Nearing 39 years of age, the athlete has set a clear goal – the Paris 2024 Games.
And if you ask her, like many, about her age and whether that poses an obstacle to competing, she won’t get upset.
“In Greece, we’ve always had issues with finding sponsors in our sport. I would send my CV to potential sponsors and wouldn’t even get a reply back,” says Ntrismpioti. Photo: Thanassis Dimopoulos/Eurokinissi.
Instead she presents a couple of sober arguments in her favour.
“I actually feel quite young to be honest. I don’t feel my training years weighing on me and this is based on what I see I can do day by day.
“I’ve had minimal injuries so far, no surgeries, and I do some strength training at home in addition to my regular training.”
She says this is to ease the pressure on joints that comes with racewalking.
And you might have heard of an 8-year gap from competition she had between 2003 and 2011.
“I do believe that gap may have extended my training years.”
Finding a coach is Ntrismpioti’s number one priority at the moment.
Then, it’s all about one goal: the 2024 Paris Olympics.
As for seeing her in Australia again, it’s likely to happen sooner rather than later.
“This is my first time in Australia. But certainly won’t be the last.”
Do you live in Melbourne?
Catch Antigoni Ntrismpioti live competing at the Chemist Warehouse Australian 20km Race Walk Championships.
Where: Fawkner Park
When: Sunday morning 12 February, starting at 7am (the race will have finished by 9am)
