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Miltiadis "Miltos" Tentoglou (Greek: Μιλτιάδης "Μίλτος" Τεντόγλου [miltiˈaðis te(n)ˈdoɣlu];[4] born 18 March 1998[5]) is a Greek long jump athlete, who is 14th in the all time lists, but one of the best in terms of achievements, as he is a double Olympic Champion with multiple World and European titles also to his name in a career which has brought him 11[6] gold medals.
He won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.[7] In 2022, Tentoglou became the World Indoor champion jumping the current Greek indoor record of 8.55 metres, which places him sixth best indoor on the world all-time list,[8] and took silver at the outdoor World Championships. He is a six-time European champion, winning a record three consecutive outdoor titles in 2018, 2022 and 2024 and a record three successive men's indoor titles between 2019 and 2023.
He had been a silver medallist at the 2016 World Under-20 Championships and won gold at the 2017 European U20 and 2019 European U23 Championships. Tentoglou was also 2022 Diamond League Champion at the event. He is the Greek indoor record holder, and has won 12 national long jump titles. He was named the Greek Male Athlete of the Year, for the years 2022 and 2023.[9]
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Miltiadis Tentoglou was born in Thessaloniki on 18 March 1998.[10] His paternal greatgrandfather was a Greek refugee from Anatolia.[11] He grew up in the town of Grevena, where he spent his childhood and teenage years.[12]
Until 15, he had no experience in track and field. In his teenage years his hobby was parkour. He started athletics completely by accident at the age of 15, at the urging of the Greek athletics coach, Vangelis Papanikos, who had watched him doing parkour in the stadium bleachers at the Grevena stadium. Papanikos was the first person to recognise Tentoglou's natural talent and physical agility and became his first coach.[13] In 2017, Tentoglou teamed up with recognised Greek-Bulgarian coach, Georgi Pomashki, who is his current coach.[14][15]
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Tentoglou gained his first international experience at the age of 17, at the 2015 World Under-18 Championships in Athletics held in Cali, Colombia, where he placed fifth with a jump of 7.66 metres.
In May 2016, he jumped 8.19 metres in Kalamata to break the Greek national U20 record.[16] Two months later, he won the silver medal at the World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland for a leap of 7.91m, behind Cuban Maykel Massó (8.00 m). The following month, Tentoglou was one of the youngest members of Hellenic expedition at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where he was, however, eliminated in the qualifications (7.64m).
In June 2017 at the Greek Athletics Championships in Patras, Tentoglou improved his national U20 record by landing at 8.30 metres.[16] In July, he went on to claim a gold at the European U20 Championships held in Grosseto, Italy, jumping 8.07m.
From that point, major titles kept piling up for Miltiadis, culminating in him winning the 2020 Summer Olympic crown in the Japan capital Tokyo, where he soared at 8.41 metres to win on countback over Cuba's Juan Miguel Echevarría, with Massó third at 8.21 m. He has won five consecutive European titles: at Berlin 2018, where he became the youngest Greek man to win a continental gold, at indoor Glasgow 2019, where he set a Greek indoor record, at indoor Toruń 2021, at Munich 2022, where he set a championship record in the process,[17] and at indoor Istanbul 2023, where he became the first man in history to claim three successive long jump titles at the European Indoors.[18] Only Hans Baumgartner has also won three, but not straight, European indoor titles.
In May 2021 at a meeting in Athens, Tentoglou landed at 8.60 metres, becoming the third-best European performer of all time, behind Robert Emmiyan and compatriot Louis Tsatoumas.[19]
At the 2022 World Indoor Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia, he improved his Greek indoor record with a jump of 8.55 metres to convincingly take the title.[5] Tentoglou finished second at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon that year, however, with a leap of 8.32 m, behind China's Wang Jianan (8.36m).
In Glasgow, at the 2024 World Indoors Championships, Tentoglou secured his second world indoor title in an incredibly close contest. With just one centimetre separating the three medallists, it matched the 2012 edition for the closest ever World Indoor Championships long jump final. Tentoglou won on countback after soaring a best of 8.22m.[20]
In June 2024, at the European Athletics Championships, he extended his championship record by jumping 8.65m. twice in the process, taking the gold medal again and setting, also, a new PB.
In August 2024, at Paris's Olympic Games he maintained his Olympic title with a leap of 8.48 m , making him the only jumper after Carl Lewis, with a back to back Olympic gold medal in the long jump.
In September 2024 he spoke out against the World Athletics Federation's intention to replace the wooden jumping board with a take off zone. He said if this change will take place, he wil retire.[21]
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Personal bests
- Long jump – 8.65 m (28 ft 4+1⁄2 in) (Rome 2024) 3rd European all time
- Became the second man to successfully defend an Olympic long jump title, after Carl Lewis (who did it 3 times though, winning long jump gold medals in 4 consecutive Olympics).
International competitions
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | World Youth Championships | Cali, Colombia | 5th | 7.66 m |
| 2016 | World U20 Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 2nd | 7.91 m |
| Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 27th (q) | 7.64 m | |
| 2017 | European Team Championships Super League | Lille, France | 5th | 7.76 m |
| European U20 Championships | Grosseto, Italy | 1st | 8.07 m | |
| World Championships | London, United Kingdom | 19th (q) | 7.79 m | |
| 2018 | World Indoor Championships | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 9th | 7.82 m |
| Balkan Championships | Stara Zagora, Bulgaria | 1st | 8.17 m | |
| European Championships | Berlin, Germany | 1st | 8.25 m SB | |
| Continental Cup | Ostrava, Czech Republic | 2nd | 8.00 m | |
| 2019 | European Indoor Championships | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 1st | 8.38 m WL NR |
| European U23 Championships | Gävle, Sweden | 1st | 8.32 m EL | |
| European Team Championships Super League | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 1st | 8.30 m | |
| Balkan Championships | Pravets, Bulgaria | 2nd | 7.88 m | |
| World Championships | Doha, Qatar | 10th | 7.79 m | |
| 2021 | European Indoor Championships | Toruń, Poland | 1st | 8.35 m WL |
| European Team Championships First League | Cluj-Napoca, Romania | 1st | 8.38 m CR | |
| Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan | 1st | 8.41 m | |
| 2022 | World Indoor Championships | Belgrade, Serbia | 1st | 8.55 m WL NR |
| World Championships | Eugene, OR, United States | 2nd | 8.32 m | |
| European Championships | Munich, Germany | 1st | 8.52 m SB CR | |
| 2023 | European Indoor Championships | Istanbul, Turkey | 1st | 8.30 m |
| European Team Championships 1st Division | Chorzow, Poland | 1st | 8.34 m | |
| World Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 1st | 8.52 m SB | |
| 2024 | World Indoor Championships | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 1st | 8.22 m |
| European Championships | Rome, Italy | 1st | 8.65 m PB CR | |
| Olympic Games | Paris, France | 1st | 8.48 m |
Circuit wins and titles
National titles
- Greek Athletics Championships
- Greek Indoor Athletics Championships
- Long jump (6): 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
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