Diver Thomas Bimis first competed in the Olympic Games in 2000, placing 32nd in the springboard event.
From solo to duo
Four years later, when the Olympic Games came to his hometown of Athens, Bimis teamed with fellow Athenian Nikolaos Siranidis in the synchronized springboard diving event. They had already competed together and won a bronze medal in the Grand Prix in Madrid 2003 and had taken the fifth place of the World Cup event held in Athens in 2004. At the Olympic Games in Athens the contest took place late at night on the third day of competition and Greece had yet to win a gold medal.
The first medal for Greece
Bimis and Siranidis took the early lead, but fell back to fifth place and were still placed only fourth with one dive to go. However, the favourites all blew their final dives, while Bimis and Siranidis, performing inward 3½ somersault tucks, responded to the support of the crowd by hitting their dives with near-perfection. They won the competition by 3.33 points.
