Stavroula Zygouri ( gr, Σταυρούλα Ζυγούρη; born May 4, 1968, in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

) is a retired amateur Greek freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's middleweight category. She picked up a silver medal in the 63-kg division at the

2001 Mediterranean Games The XIV Mediterranean Games ( ar, ألعاب البحر الأبيض المتوسط 2001), commonly known as the 2001 Mediterranean Games, were the 14th Mediterranean Games held in Tunis, Tunisia, from 2-15 September 2001, where 2,991 athletes ( ...

Tunis, Tunisia ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, and later finished fourth in

, when

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

hosted the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. Before her sporting career ended in 2012, Zygouri trained as a member of the wrestling team for Atlas Kallitheas in her native

, under her personal coach and mentor Panagiotis Kalaigidis. Zygouri emerged herself into a sporting fame at the

Tunis, Tunisia ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, where she captured a silver medal in the 63-kg division, losing her final match to Italy's Diletta Giampiccolo. She also had an opportunity to compete for the Greek squad in the same category at the

2003 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 2003 World Wrestling Championships. The Freestyle Competition was held in New York City, United States, while the Greco-Roman Competition was held in Créteil, France. Medal table Team ranking Medal su ...

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, but left empty-handed with a sixth-place effort. When women's wrestling made its debut at the

, Zygouri qualified for the Greek squad, as a 36-year-old, in the inaugural 63 kg class. Apart from placing sixth at the World Championships, she also managed to fill up an entry by the International Federation of Association Wrestling and the

Hellenic Olympic Committee The Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) ( el, Ελληνική Ολυμπιακή Επιτροπή) is the governing Olympic body of Greece. It is the second oldest National Olympic Committee in the world (after the French Olympic Committee), it o ...

, as Greece received an automatic berth for being the host nation. Amassed the home crowd inside

Ano Liossia Olympic Hall Ano Liosia Olympic Hall is a multi-purpose and multi-sport indoor arena that is located in Ano Liosia, a suburb of Athens, Greece. The arena was mainly used to host various martial arts tournaments but from 2021 its used by AEK B.C. for its home g ...

, Zygouri started the prelim pool in a more sedate fashion with a pair of effortless victories over Germany's

Stéphanie Groß Stéphanie Mary Groß (born 12 October 1974 in Basel, Switzerland) is a retired amateur German freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's middleweight category. Gross has claimed four medals (three silver and one bronze) at the World Champi ...

4–1 and Sweden's Sara Eriksson 5–3 to grant her a spot in the medal rounds. Zygouri was immediately pinned by U.S. wrestler

Sara McMann Sara McMann (born September 24, 1980) is an American female mixed martial artist who competed in the bantamweight division. McMann is a former Olympic wrestler and received a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and was a ...

in her semifinal match within 50 seconds, and then fell behind France's

Lise Legrand Lise Christiane Renée-Legrand (born 4 September 1976 in Boulogne-sur-Mer) is a female Female ( symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the ...

with a similar disposition at two minutes and four seconds for the bronze medal, dropping her to fourth place. Currently, Zygouri works as a secretary for the association of the Greek athletes under the

, and also, a member of the Department of International Women's Sports Wrestling Federation for

FILA Fila Holdings Corp. is a sportswear brand of shoes and apparel. The company was founded by Ettore and Giansevero Fila in 1911 in Coggiola, near Biella, Piedmont, Italy. In 2003, it was sold to United States-based Sports Brand International. Sub ...

References

External links

* * 1968 births Living people Greek female sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for Greece Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Athens Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Greece Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in wrestling {{Greece-wrestling-bio-stub