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May
12,
2008 • © J. Barry Mittan
Although the Olympic Games originated in Greece,
historically the country has not had as much
of a presence in the Winter Games than in the
Summer Games. This is especially true in figure
skating, where Greek athletes frequently didn't
even compete in the European and World Championships.
In the last few years, federation officials
in Greece have tried to change that situation,
fielding entries in ladies, men and ice dancing.
But until 2008, there had been no recent entries
in pairs. That changed at the 2008 European Championships
with the entry of Ariel Fay Gagnon and Chad Tsagris
into the pairs field.
Although the couple only finished 15th at Europeans
and 19th at Worlds, it was not a bad debut for
the young team, which had been together for less
than a year and were competing in their first
event. Both of the skaters were born in Canada
and competed at Canadian Nationals at lower levels.
"We just wanted to go out
and show we could compete with everyone else," Tsagris
said. "Greece
has a spot with the others at the championships." The
skaters had no trouble getting a release from
Canada to skate for Greece since they and not
competed internationally... Read
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