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Ioannis Melissanidis

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Ioannis Melissanidis
Ioannis Melissanidis in 2017
Personal information
Full nameIoannis Melissanidis
Country represented Greece
Born (1977-03-27) 27 March 1977 (age 47)
Munich, West Germany
HometownThessaloníki, Greece
DisciplineMen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior International
ClubSpartacus
Eponymous skillsMelissanidis vault
Medal record
Artistic Gymnastics
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1996 Atlanta Floor Exercise
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1994 Brisbane Floor exercise
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1998 St. Petersburg Vault
Silver medal – second place 1998 St. Petersburg Floor exercise
European Team Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1999 Patras Team

Ioannis Melissanidis (Greek: Ιωάννης Μελισσανίδης; born 27 March 1977) is a retired Greek artistic gymnast and the 1996 Olympic champion on the floor exercise. He was also the first Greek gymnast ever to medal at the World Championships. He was named one of the 1996 Greek Male Athletes of the Year.

Early life and career

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Melissanidis was born in Munich, Germany to parents Evangelos and Ekaterini, Greek nationals who were working in Germany. He hails from the village of Vyronia, Serres,[1] and has two older siblings, Spiros and Maria. When Melissanidis was 2 years old, his family returned to Thessaloniki, which he considers his hometown.[2][3]

Melissanidis began training gymnastics and classical ballet at the age of 9 and a half. His parents were not originally supportive of the idea, and, according to Melissanidis, only relented and took him to the Spartakos Thessaloniki gymnastics club after he refused to eat for two days.[2]

At his first Junior European Championships in 1991 Melissanidis placed a modest 18th in the all-around,[4] but earned a bronze medal on the floor exercise, placing ahead of future World Champions Ivan Ivankov and Yordan Yovchev.[5] Two years later, in 1993, he won the floor title at Junior Europeans and placed third on the vault.[6]

In 1994, defended his floor exercise title at the 1994 Junior European Championships in Prague,[7] marking his third time medaling as a junior on this apparatus. 1994 was also his first year competing as a senior, and at age 17, he tied with Great Britain's Neil Thomas for the silver medal on floor at the 1994 World Championships. With this medal, Melissanidis became the first Greek gymnast, male or female, to medal at the World Championships.

Although Melissanidis competed at the 1995 and 1996 World Championships, he did not qualify to an apparatus final.[8] However, at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Melissanidis won the floor exercise gold medal with a score of 9.850. The win marked the first Olympics gymnastics medal for Greece since the 1906 Intercalated Games (and in the official Games since 1896, after 100 years).

Melissanidis continued competing after 1996, winning the vault title at the 1998 European Championships in Saint Petersburg. He represented Greece at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, but, struggling with injury, competed only on vault and high bar.[9][10]

Skills

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The hallmark of Melissanidis' floor exercises was two specific kinds of combinations: (a) backward saltos out of a whipback and (b) front tuck saltos (with or without a full twist) rebounding forward out of the landing of a backward salto. He often did both types of combinations in the same series, e.g., whip + double layout + rebound front tuck.

Melissanidis has one vault named after him in the Code of Points; the Yurchenko double back in tuck position.[10] In the current Code of Points, his vault carries a D-score (difficulty rating) of 5.2.[11] For some time, the piked version was also credited to him, but it is now credited to Yang Wei, who debuted it in 2002.

Personal and professional life

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In 1996, Melissanidis publicly came out as a gay man.[12][13]

In recent years, Melissanidis has been active in various social and athletic causes. He is a supporter of Greenpeace,[2] and, in 2003, publicly supported the Melina Mercouri Foundation's campaign to return the Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum to Greece.[14] A gymnastics hall in his hometown of Thessaloníki has been named in his honor.[15] He was also one of the torchbearers in the 2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in Athens.[16]

As of 2008, he was a student at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. He was also an invited guest of the 2008 Olympic competition in China and toured Chinese universities as an International Olympic representative.

In 2017, Melissanidis was selected by ANT1 to be a judge on the show So You Think You Can Dance.

References

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  1. ^ Αναστασιάδης, Βασίλης (6 August 2016). "Οι Σερραίοι των Ολυμπιακών αγώνων". ert.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Melissanidis Ioannis : C'est l'histoire d'un grec ou la passion selon Ioannis" Archived 16 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine French Gymnastics Federation, 1999 (in French)
  3. ^ "Profile at the Association of Hellenic Olympic Winners". Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2007.
  4. ^ AA Results from 1991 Jr. European Championships from Gymn-Forum
  5. ^ EF Results from 1991 Jr. European Championships from Gymn-Forum
  6. ^ EF Results from 1993 Jr. European Championships on Gymn-Forum.
  7. ^ EF Results from 1994 Jr. European Championships on Gymn-Forum
  8. ^ "Melissanidis is perfect for Greece" Christoper Clarey, New York Times, 29 July 1996
  9. ^ "Results from 2000 Olympics at Gymn-Forum". Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2007.
  10. ^ a b "Melissanidis injured" International Gymnast, 3 September 2000
  11. ^ "Revision of the vault difficulty values"[permanent dead link‍] MAG Technical Committee, International Gymnastics Federation, 18–19 May 2006
  12. ^ "Gay Greek Olympian Takes to the Stage to Benefit the Special Olympics". WEHOville. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  13. ^ Tabberer, Jamie (16 August 2021). "Gymnast Ioannis Melissanidis on becoming Greece's 'first openly gay Olympic champion'". Attitude. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Melissanidis on New Mission" International Gymnast 15 October 2003
  15. ^ "Romanian Men Best of Four in Thessaloniki" Archived 5 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Stelios Karaoglandis, International Gymnast, 1 April 2008
  16. ^ History of the 2004 Olympics Archived 1 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine Beijing 2008 official website
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