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The Greek athlete participating in the Winter Para Olympic games in Vancouver Vivi Christodulopoulou qualified at the 16^th place in the giant Para Olympic slalom in standing position. The Para Olympic athlete took part in the alpine skiing by reaching the final in both stages and scored a total time of 4:52.54 (2:32.76 in the first stage and 2:19.78 in the second one).The participation of Christodulopoulou in the games in Vancouver is her first participation in the Winter Olympic Games. For the Greek who is one of the oldest competitors were important not the results, but the chance to compete. She comments on her participation in the games as follows: “I reached to the final. This is what I wanted and this is what I achieved. It feels wonderful to compete at the Para Olympic Games. It requires a lot of courage and determination in order to get to the final of a championship like this”.

Yannis Papavasiliou who is the second Greek athlete who took part in the Para Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver competed in the same alpine skiing discipline for men. Papavasiliou took the 40^th place with a total time of 4:10.19 (2:03.38 in the first stage and 2:06.81 in the second). In this way the Para Olympic athlete had a satisfactory success having in mind that he is working in this particular ski discipline for only one year and a half. The most important task which the young athlete had set for himself during his participation in the giant slalom was to reach the final in both stages. “I am happy. While I was going down I was contained and I was skiing with control in order to be able to finish the stages. To me this is a very good position, in order to be able to practice even more and compete at an even higher level in the future” – shared Papavasiliou.

The Bulgarian delegation which is comprised of three athletes will start its first participation in the games today (March 18^th). Ioanna Ermenkova starts in the 5 km cross country skiing classic style for people with impaired vision and Alexander Stoyanov and Ivailo Vutov in the 10 km of the same group of disabilities for the men. The second participation of the Bulgarian Para Olympic athletes will start on March 21^st when is the last day of the Games.

In the X-th Winter Para Olympic Games in which the high achievements are not the most important thing, but the will for victory, the power of the spirit and the persistence, this year took part over 600 athletes from 44 countries. In the first place in number of competitors is the Canadian Para Olympic team with 57 athletes, at the second place is the team of the USA with 50 athletes. The smallest number of competitors this year have the teams of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Belgium – one competitor.

Picture: Greek Para Olympic Committee