Voula Patoulidou
Gold medal, August 6, 1992, Voula Patoulidou, 100 m. Hurdles. Barcelona 1992
Voula Patoulidou, then 27, traveled to Barcelona for her second Olympic appearance, with an individual performance of 12.96 (1991) in the 100m hurdles and 13.14 individual record from that year. The favorites in the race were Narozylenko (Team United) and Devers (USA), with world record holder Bulgarian Donkova also eyeing first place. Narozylenko had run the five fastest races of the year, while Devers had been the Olympic 100m champion a few days earlier. An injury sidelined Narozilenko in the semifinals, while the Greek champion equaled her best this year of 13.14 in qualifying to advance to the quarterfinals. She also advanced to the semifinals with 13.05 on Aug. 5, with her expectations raised for the next day. She then set a new record for Greece in the semifinals with 12.88 (3rd place) and qualified for the grand final. She was the first Greek woman in history to participate in an Olympic Games final. Two hours later, at 21:15 Greek time, our country was shocked.
Voula Patoulidou, who ran an amazing race with incredible tenacity and courage, is looking for the miracle that equals a medal, and realizes the dream. Devers, who was in the lead, stumbles at the last obstacle, collapses to the ground and Patoulidou is crowned Olympic champion with a new record for Greece, the unimaginable 12.64. It was the first gold medal for Greece in athletics since 1912, when Tsiklitiras finished first in the long jump in Stockholm.
The final ranking: Patoulidou (Greece) 12.64 Martin (USA) 12.69 Donkova (Bulgaria) 12.70 Tolbert (USA) 12.75 Devers (USA) 12.75 Lopez (Cuba) 12.87 Kolovanova (United Team) 13.01 Adams (Cuba) 13.57
They said..
“All for Greece, it’s worth doing everything for it. I’ve achieved what no one believed, except two or three people. I told myself before the final that I could get the bronze medal, and finally I fought and got the gold. When I came to Barcelona, I found the Greek athletes with low morale, maybe because of the accident od Papakostas. Nobody paid attention to me, and that made me terribly stubborn. I think I ran the race of my life. In training I often ran close to 12.70, but in the races I was out of shape. It came at the right time. What can I say, I’m crazy.”
August 6, 1992
