Greece at the 2014 Winter Paralympics

Greece sent a delegation to compete at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia from 7–16 March 2014. This was Greece's third appearance at a Winter Paralympic Games. Their only athlete was alpine skier Efthymios Kalaras. He suffered a spinal cord injury two decades before these Paralympics, and was a returning Paralympic silver medalist from the 2004 Summer Paralympics in the discus throw. He finished 22nd in the sitting giant slalom, nearly a minute behind the gold medal time.

Greece at the 2014 Winter Paralympics
The flag of Greece
IPC code	GRE
NPC	Hellenic Paralympic Committee
Website	www.paralympic.gr
in Sochi
Competitors	1 in 1 sport
Medals	Gold 0 Silver 0 Bronze 0 Total 0
Winter Paralympics appearances (overview)
2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022

Background

Greece first joined Paralympic competition at the 1976 Summer Paralympics, and made their Winter Paralympics debut at the 2002 Winter Paralympics. They have participated in every Summer Paralympics since, and missed the Winter Paralympics only once, in 2006. This made Sochi their third appearance at a Winter Paralympics.^[1] While Greece have won over 90 medals at Summer Paralympics, they have never won one in Winter Paralympics competition.^[1] The 2014 Winter Paralympics were held from 7–16 March 2014, in Sochi, Russia; 45 countries and 547 athletes took part in the multi-sport event.^[2] Efthymios Kalaras was the only athlete sent by Greece to Sochi.^[3] He was chosen as the Greek flag-bearer for the parade of nations during the opening ceremony,^[4] and the closing ceremony.^[5]

Disability classification

Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories: amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, though there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; and Les Autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, like dwarfism or multiple sclerosis.^[6][7] Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Events with "B" in the code are for athletes with visual impairment, codes LW1 to LW9 are for athletes who stand to compete and LW10 to LW12 are for athletes who compete sitting down.^[8] Alpine skiing events grouped athletes into separate competitions for sitting, standing and visually impaired athletes.^[9]

Alpine skiing

Main article: Alpine skiing at the 2014 Winter Paralympics

Efthymios Kalaras was 38 years old at the time of the Sochi Paralympics.^[10] He suffers from an acquired spinal cord injury obtained in a motorcycle accident 20 years before the Sochi Paralympics,^[3] and is classified LW10-1, meaning he competes in a sitting position.^[11] LW10 classified athletes have "no or minimal trunk stability, for example due to spinal cord injuries or spina bifida. They therefore rely mainly on their arms to manoeuvre the sit-ski."^[8] Kalaras previously won a silver medal in the discus throw at the 2004 Summer Paralympics.^[11] He took up skiing three years before the Sochi Paralympics, and had only spent a single year in international competitions.^[3] He was the first Greek athlete to participate in both a Summer and a Winter Paralympics.^[3] On 13 March, he took part in the sitting slalom, but failed to finish the first run, missing a gate around 20 seconds into his run.^[12][13] Two days later he participated in the sitting giant slalom, finishing his first run in 1 minute and 52.77 seconds,^[14] and his second in a faster 1 minute and 44.83 seconds.^[15] Placement was determined by adding up the run times; his total time was 3 minutes and 37.60 seconds, which put him next to last among the 23 classified finishers.^[16] The gold medal was won by Christoph Kunz of Switzerland in a time of 2 minutes and 32.73 seconds, the silver medal by Corey Peters of New Zealand and the bronze medal was won by Roman Rabl of Austria.^[16]

Athlete	Event	Run 1			Run 2			Final/Total
		Time	Diff	Rank	Time	Diff	Rank	Time	Diff	Rank
Efthymios Kalaras	Slalom, sitting	DNF			DNS			did not advance
	Giant slalom, sitting	1:52.77	+34.67	30	1:44.83	+30.73	23	3:37.60	+1:04.87	22

See also

• Greece at the Paralympics
• Greece at the 2014 Winter Olympics

References

1. "Greece". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
2. "Sochi 2014 Paralympics". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
3. "Efthymios Kalaras makes Greek history at Sochi 2014 Paralympics". International Paralympic Committee. 25 March 2014. from the original on 10 September 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
4. "Sochi 2014 Opening Ceremony flag bearers". International Paralympic Committee. 7 March 2014. from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
5. "Sochi 2014 Closing Ceremony flag bearers". International Paralympic Committee. 16 March 2014. from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
6. "Paralympics categories explained". ABC. 3 September 2008. from the original on 12 September 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
7. "Making sense of the categories". BBC Sport. 6 October 2000. from the original on 28 May 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
8. "Classification". International Paralympic Committee. from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
9. "Sochi Winter Paralympics: Guide to the sports". BBC Online. 18 February 2014. from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
10. "Efthymios KALARAS – Alpine Skiing – Greece". Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
11. "Athlete Bio – KALARAS Efthymios". International Paralympic Committee. from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
12. "Men's Slalom 1st Run – Sitting – Alpine Skiing". Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
13. "Efthymios Kalaras (1st run) – Men's slalom sitting – Alpine skiing". International Paralympic Committee via YouTube. from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
14. "Men's Giant Slalom 1st Run – Sitting – Alpine Skiing". Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
15. "Men's Giant Slalom 2nd Run – Sitting – Alpine Skiing". Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. from the original on 21 July 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
16. "Alpine Skiing at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games – Men's Giant Slalom Sitting". International Paralympic Committee. from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.