During the Athens Authentic Marathon in November, the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS) took the opportunity to award athletes who brought medals to Greece during 2022.
Race walker Christina Papadopoulou was one of the 12 honoured, alongside names including Gold Olympian Miltos Tentoglou and the country’s first athlete to land a double gold medal in a single athletics event, Antigoni Ntrismpioti.
It’s been a year full of rewarding experiences for Papadopoulou and Ntrismpioti who were part of the dream team of five crowned silver medalists at the World Athletics Race Championships in March.
The European Athletics Championships in August, was another highlight for the duo. For many Greeks too. Ntrismpioti made history winning two titles in the space of five days in the 35 km and 20 km races.
Papadopoulou despite competing injured came 12th.
“I said at the time I felt as if I had won too with Antigoni’s win, and it was true,” she tells Neos Kosmos.
She was by her side moments after the achievement, acting as an impromptu English interpreter for the ‘golden girl’ and international media.
People across the globe would hear Papadopoulou exclaiming ‘Ti ekanes pali re?’, a Greek phrase directed to the champion loosely translated as ‘You smashed it’.
Papadopoulou says she is glad the moment was captured on camera.
“It’s hard to explain the joy I felt… Because of all the struggles we’ve been through training in the same team, the tears we’ve cried, the support we’ve given to each other.”
The two athletes share the same coach in Greece, Napoleon Kefalopoulos.
A Brisbane resident for years now, Papadopoulou also shares her time between Australia and Greece.
“I usually leave around December to train for the winter season and compete. I spend between six and eight months of the year in Greece,” she explains.
In between countries
The migration journey for the 26-year-old started eight years ago, when she decided to try her luck in her mother’s birthplace, Sydney.
“Mum was sad when I left, but she encouraged me to try.
“Everyone was telling me ‘you’ll be back in six months'”.
She wasn’t. Instead, she found a second home and made sure to keep ties alive with her first one.
After the initial settlement period, Papadopoulou moved to Brisbane where she lives to this day and following her father’s passing, her mother and sister joined her too.
In between studying a Business degree at the Queensland University of Technology, working at a café during the day and teaching at a Greek school in the evenings, she is following the training programme sent to her by her coach when in Australia.
Her daily schedule is demanding, but she refrains from complaining.
“I quite enjoy life here. I like the routine you can have, the discipline, it’s ideal for an athlete.”
Papadopoulou entered the world of racewalking as a teen, but when she resumed training at a competitive level she was already in Australia.
“I’ve had training by distance from the start and it has not been easy. It’s a different thing to have your coach in person, checking your technique, giving you directions, training with other athletes. For racewalkers especially, it’s important to train in a group and I miss this while in Australia. It’s not many of us in this sport so it’s important to support each other.”
Trying to find her footing as a professional athlete after moving to Australia was particularly challenging, she recounts. But she’s found much-needed support through her loved ones and the local community.
“It was harder in the first few years, trying to stand on my feet, and even financially things haven’t been easy,” she says giving credit to Brisbane’s Greek Community for sponsoring her at a time she was not getting paid from the Hellenic Athletics Federation.
Being part of the team that came second in the 2021 European Race Walking Championship in Podebrady was a turning point for getting established in the field and the culmination of an unusual year of preparation.
“We were caught amidst the pandemic in 2020. So I went to Greece for the winter training season and for a full nine months we were staying at Antigoni’s (Ntrismpioti) place in Karditsa so we could train all together.”
Big things coming
One of Papadopoulou’s biggest supporters and reasons for staying in Australia is her soon-to-be husband, Dimitris.
“We met at the Greek Club while I was working as a waitress at the time. I served him a souvlaki and we ended up falling in love.”
The couple have their wedding scheduled for 2023, following two postponements, the first one due to the pandemic.
“After rescheduling for 19 August 2023, one day he calls me and goes ‘Guess which starting date was announced for the World Athletics Championships: 19 August’, and I started laughing.”
“So we moved the date to September. We’ll have the wedding in Greece and then our honeymoon.”
After that?
Training and more training are the plans, Papadopoulou says, in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
She missed out on earning the qualification to the Tokyo Olympics “at the 11th hour”.
“I really want to make it in this time.”
Among the obstacles the athlete will have to overcome is a set of injuries she had been competing with unknowingly, including during the European Championships in August.
“I haven’t run for several weeks now but will start soon, as the injuries keep improving every day. Under normal circumstances I should be in Greece by mid December, but I will probably have to delay my winter camp preparation.
“I have my eyes set on the Olympics,” she says and admits that preparing as best possible would require spending as much time possible in Greece in the meantime.
But a permanent move back is not on the cards.
“I love Australia and I’m determined to stay here.
“My mum is here, my sister is here, Dimitris is here. This is where I’ve imagined spending my life.”
