S1 Ep3: Greg Polychronidis on overcoming setbacks

Greece’s Paralympic boccia athlete Greg Polychronidis' story of overcoming failures, from being on the brink of quitting his career to becoming the leading athlete in the world.

Greg Polychronidis opens up on his life, from being born with spinal muscular atrophy in Athens to becoming the leading Greek Paralympian, a gold medal winner and a flag bearer for his nation at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. It’s a story of overcoming losses, inside and outside of sport, and Polychronidis’ experiences and life stories can provide a lesson for all of us on how to win, lose and overdefy the odds. “I don’t believe there is a person in the world who hasn’t had disappointments and failure. The important thing is how to overcome this. The most important is to find your mistake in order to become stronger and not make the same mistakes. We must become stronger from each failure in life and we must appreciate when we succeed. If we do not fail, we will never know the meaning of success. Because to feel success, we must have felt the pain of the failure.” He talks about sport, setbacks and love, particularly the love he has for his wife Katerina. The two discuss her role as his sport assistant and what that entails, as well as a love that has often been blighted by cynicism, racism and negative attitudes from those around them.

Allianz is a long-standing partner of the International Paralympic Committee. Together, we’re proud to bring you this series of podcasts. We aim to help you move forward in all aspects of your personal and professional life.

By hearing from Paralympic stars, you’ll be introduced to stories that inspire and change the way you think. Stories of facing life’s challenges with confidence, determination and excellence, and the true power of having the right team behind you.