Demosthenes Tampakos

From Phantis
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Olympic-rings.png
Gold 2004 Gymnastics: Men's rings
Silver 2000 Gymnastic: Men's rings

Demosthenes Tampakos (Greek: Δημοσθένης Ταμπάκος) is a gymnast from Greece.

Tampakos was born on November 12, 1976 in Thessaloniki. He is a member of the Greek national gymnastics team since 1990 and has won gold medals in the world championships of Anaheim (2003) and the European championships of Ljubljana.

He won gold in the men's rings at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens with a score of 9.862. However, this title was highly controversial as Bulgarian Jordan Jovtchev performed, according to many non-Greek observers and specialists, much better and complex combinations.

After Demosthenes dismounted the rings, he did not stick his landing, there was a slight shuffle in the feet to maintain his balance which is a mandatory deduction. Jovtchev's dismount was much more difficult and more importantly, he did not move upon landing making it a more solid routine. Bronze medalist Yuri Chechi of Italy clearly showed his opinion that Jovchev deserved the gold by raising the Bulgarian's hand in front of the spectators.