Giannis Kotsiopoulos born in Athens in 1953 first started open water swimming in Toroneos Gulf in his native Greece in 1994. He competed this one-way crossing between Kallithea and Nikiti in northern Greece 10 times from 1994 to 2009. Plus, he also completed a 52 km two-way crossing in 2001 and a three-way crossing in 2005, a total of 73.5 km in 35 hours 20 minutes.
He also competed in professional marathon races in Argentina in 1996 and 1997 as well as Faros Maratón in Starigrad, Croatia in 1998 and the 33 km Ohrid Lake Swim Marathon in North Macedonia in 1999. Why? He explains, “For experience, for fun, for be with friends like Mányoki Attila, for Greece, for preparing for his next marathon crossing of the English Channel in 2000.”
His life plan is to keep long-distance swimming into his 80s as the founder of the Greek Triple Crown. He talked about the sport of open water swimming:
What changes have you seen in open water swimming in Greece over the last 40 years?
Before 1994, there was only the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame inductee Jason Zirganos and approximately 25 other marathon swimmers per year swimming to Kalamata and Toroneos between 1973 and today. I belong to a group of some decades of marathon swimmers who succeeded in growing either our group or the number of other Greek open water swims. I am the president of the first Greek Marathon swim club LEANDROS between 2011 and today.(www.leandrosswim.wordpress.com). I organized for 10 years the Greek Open Water Swimming Championship ranking LEANDROS so i have the complete statistics of a maximum of 60 open water swims per year with approximately 3000 open water swimmers per year…and growing up every year.
What is your favorite open water swims?
My heart and my body annually for 15 years belongs to the Toroneos Gulf 26 km race. Always with Michael Read, Attila Mányoki, and others.
What was the most difficult open water swim that you have done?
The first ever triple crossing of Toroneos Gulf in 2005 that took 35 hours 20 minutes at the age of 52.
What are the names of the books that you have written (in Greek or English)?
My 15 ebooks on marathon swimming are available for free in the following links (here and here).
- Global WETSUIT Marathon Swim DATABASE 1992-2023
- New Marathon Swim Database, Updated 1875-2023 By Global LEANDROS
- Toroneos Gulf Greece Marathon Swim 1971-2024
- Giannis Kotsiopoulos, English Channel swimmer. 1994-2025 everything about an Ultra Marathon swim pioneer
- Μαραθώνιος Κολυμβητικός Διάπλους ΤΟΡΩΝΑΙΟΥ Κόλπου 1971-2024
- ”ΛΕΑΝΔΡΟΣ 2023”. ΓΚΡΑΝ ΠΡΙ Ελληνικό Open Water Swimming
- ”ΛΕΑΝΔΡΟΣ 2022’’. ΓΚΡΑΝ ΠΡΙ Ελληνικό Open Water Swimming
- ”ΛΕΑΝΔΡΟΣ 2021”. ΓΚΡΑΝ ΠΡΙ Ελληνικό Open Water Swimming
- ”ΛΕΑΝΔΡΟΣ 2020′. ΓΚΡΑΝ ΠΡΙ Ελληνικό Open Water Swimming
- ”ΛΕΑΝΔΡΟΣ 2019”. ΓΚΡΑΝ ΠΡΙ Ελληνικό Open Water Swimming
- ”ΛΕΑΝΔΡΟΣ 2018”. ΓΚΡΑΝ ΠΡΙ Ελληνικό Open Water Swimming
- ”ΛΕΑΝΔΡΟΣ 2017”. ΓΚΡΑΝ ΠΡΙ Ελληνικό Open Water Swimming
- ”ΛΕΑΝΔΡΟΣ 2016”. ΓΚΡΑΝ ΠΡΙ Ελληνικό Open Water Swimming
- ”ΛΕΑΝΔΡΟΣ 2015”. ΓΚΡΑΝ ΠΡΙ Ελληνικό Open Water Swimming
- ”ΛΕΑΝΔΡΟΣ 2014”. ΓΚΡΑΝ ΠΡΙ Ελληνικό Open Water Swimming
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