Yesterday FINA released a video of multi-time open water and distance Olympian Spyridon Gianniotis. The video Depicts the 15th FINA World Championships in Barcelona, where Giannoiotis came from 46th place to win the 10k.
Gianniotis has a had a wildly successful career, as he has qualified for the Olympics every year since 2000. Rio will make this year his fifth Olympic appearance as he chases his first Olympic medal.
At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Gianniotis took 5th place in the 1500 free and 7th in the 400 free. At the London Games in 2012 he focused on his open water events, placing 4th in the 10k and falling short of a medal by only 5 seconds.
In 2011, Gianniotis won his first World Championship by edging out Thomas Lurz for a win in the 10k in Shanghai. Gianniotis picked up his second gold medal at World Championships in 2013, but fell short at the 2015 World Championships where he earned a bronze medal. Jordan Wilimovsky of the United Sates won the race with Ferry Weertman coming in second right ahead of Gianniotis, edging him out by a mere .4 seconds.
Gianniotis won three gold medals at the 2005 Mediterranean Games and was named 2012 Greek Athlete of the Year.
Check out the video above, which includes footage of the 2013 World Championships, as well as facts about Gianniotis’ life and career achievements.
Spiros is awesome. Smart! Dedicated! Humble! Skilled!