Miltiadis "Miltos" Tentoglou (Greek: Μιλτιάδης "Μίλτος" Τεντόγλου[miltiˈaðiste(n)ˈdoɣlu];[4] born 18 March 1998[5]) is a Greeklong 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 World and European titles also to his name in a career which has brought him 13[6] gold medals.
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]
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]
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 againts the World Athletics Federation intentions to replace the wooden jumping board. He said if this change will take place, he wil retire.[20]
Achievements
At Istanbul 2023, Tentoglou claimed his fifth consecutive European title.
Personal bests
Long jump – 8.65 m (28 ft 4+1⁄2 in) (Rome 2024) 3rd European all time
Long jump indoor – 8.55 m (28 ft 1⁄2 in) (Belgrade 2022) NR, 6th performer 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).
^"Παρίσι 2024: Θρύλος Τεντόγλου! Χρυσό ολυμπιακό μετάλλιο στο μήκος". SEGAS (in Greek). 6 August 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2024. Ο Τεντόγλου με οδηγό τον Γιώργο Πομάσκι έφτασε σήμερα στην κατάκτηση του 12ου μεταλλίου της καριέρας και με …μόνη παραφωνία το ασημένιο μετάλλιο στο Παγκόσμιο του Όρεγκον ο Τεντόγλου έχει στο σπίτι του 11 λαμπερά, χρυσά μετάλλια.
