Miltos Tentoglou describes what sport means for him and the feeling of the contest. He talks about child heroes and the influences that defined his character and about managing failure and the importance of study. He explains what helps him stay focused, away from fear and insecurity and what fascinates him in chess, Japanese culture and anime, while sending a message - in Japanese too - to young people who want to follow his steps.
Miltos Tentoglou was born in Thessaloniki on March 18, 1998 and lived his childhood and adolescence in Grevena. His love for music led him to a music school. Sports and athletics became part of his life by chance, when his first coach, Vangelis Papanikos, realised his qualifications after watching him doing parkour at the Municipal Stadium of Grevena.
The decision to dedicate himself to sports was soon rewarded by his first distinctions at a national level, but also with the silver medal he won at the 2016 Junior World Championships at the age of 17. In 2016, he represented our country at the Rio Olympics and became the youngest track and field athlete to participate in the Olympics.
In 2018 he won the gold medal at the European Athletics Championships and a year later he won another gold medal at the European Indoor Championships. In 2021 he climbed to the top of the Tokyo Olympics, winning the gold medal in his 6th attempt with a 8.41m jump. In the same year he achieved an individual record after a jump of 8.60m, marking at the same time the second best performance of all time in Greece.
In March 2022, on the day of his birthday, he set a new national record for indoor track and field with a jump of 8.55m and was crowned world champion after winning the gold medal at the World Championships, which took place in Belgrade.
