He successfully defended his 50-metre backstroke title at the 2008 Games, winning gold with a lead of more than twenty-one seconds over his countryman Andreas Katsaros, but failing to beat his own record; he swam the race in 1:23.15. The 50 metre backstroke was the only S1 event retained at the Beijing Games; Tampaxis therefore had to compete against S2 athletes (with slightly lesser levels of disability) in the freestyle (50m and 100m). He failed to advance from the heats.[3]
