Ioannis Melissanidis
Gold medal, July 28, 1996, Ioannis Melissanidis floor exercises. Atlanta 1996
There were big names in gymnastics in the floor exercises, and the presence of Ioannis Melissanidis in the grand final did not suggest that the Greek athlete would be able to reach the gold medal. Perhaps on his best day he would simply compete for a medal. But Ioannis was amazing and had only one World Championship silver medal in his collection until then. It was clear from the start that he wanted to show everyone that gymnastics can incorporate dance elements and not alienate the judges. And Melissanidis did that with flying colours, even though all eyes were on China’s Xiaoshuang Li, Russia’s Alexei Nemov and Belarus’ Vitaly Scherbo. He surprised everyone with his diagonal exercises, which are always difficult, but also with his flips in the air. The judges confirmed his sensational performance and gave him 9.850 points, which earned him the gold medal. Behind him were Chinese Li with 9.837 and Russian Nemov with 9.800.
The final Ranking: Melissanidis (Greece) 9.850 Xiaoshuang Li (China) 9.837 Nemov (Russia) 9.800 Aymes (France) 9.750 Ivanov (Bulgaria) 9.750 Podgorny (Russia) 9.550 Scherbo (Belarus) 9.275 Misiutin (Ukraine) 9.10
They said..
“I had only gold in mind. Of course, I knew that just getting into the top 8 was a success. So I had resigned myself to the idea of being am Olympian athlete. But the first one has the blessing of hearing the national anthem, and I wanted to experience that. Greece deserved only the gold. Nothing less.”
July 28, 1996
