Thomas Bimis - Nikolaos Siranidis
The finals of men's synchronized 3-metres springboard diving saw one of the most unexpected results in the 2004 Olympiad. The Greek athletes Thomas Bimis and Nikolaos Siranidis, despite initial predictions, were the ones who won first place, giving the Greek team its first gold medal in these Olympic Games.
Thomas Bimis was born in June 1975 in Greece and started diving when he was 12 years old. For the first time he took part in an Olympiad in 2000, but without winning a medal. His most important achievements in athletic competitions before the Olympic Games of 2004 were the bronze medal in the Grand Prix in Madrid in 2003 and the fifth place in the World Cup event in Athens in 2004.
Nikolaos Siranidis was born in February 1976 in Greece and started diving when he was 9 years old. He had taken part in the Olympic Games of 1996 and 2000. His most important distinctions in athletic events before the Olympic Games of 2004 was the gold and the bronze medal at the Grand Prix of Madrid in 2002 and in 2003 respectively, as well as the fifth place in the World Cup in Athens in 2004.
As a pair Bimis and Siranidis had taken part to the Grand Prix in Madrid in 2003 and the World Cup in Athens in 2004, just before the Games. However, their distinction in the Olympic Games was not expected, since the favorites were the teams of China and the USA. However, during the event -which was conducted with no preliminaries, but only the final, where every team made five dives- all predictions proved to be wrong. Bimis and Siranidis started forcefully, but then they stayed behind. Just before the end, when the teams had made all their efforts but the last, the Greek athletes occupied fourth place, while China and the USA had the lead. Then everything changed. The teams that were ahead did not perform well on their last effort, while Bimis and Siranidis under the encouragement of the public made an excellent dive and won the gold medal.