30/11/2018 15:00
Three-time Olympian, double European champion Arvaniti is back!
2018 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Ljubljana Winter
Ljubljana, Slovenia, November 30, 2018. Slovenia’s first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour indoor event provides the perfect stage for the comeback of one of Europe’s finest pro Beach Volleyball players, Vasiliki ‘Vicky’ Arvaniti. After announcing her return to Beach Volleyball just five months after the birth of her first son Nikolas last May, Vicky is now competing in her first international tournament after spending 28 months off sand.
“When I decided to temporarily suspend my career in 2016, I said I would not quit completely. I wanted to spend more time with my family and to finish my studies, but after Nikolas’s birth, I wanted to play again. Therefore, I started to practice again this fall. It was on September 24 when I stood again on the sand for the first time after pregnancy. At the beginning I was a little bit disappointed, realising that after two and a half years my body was in a bad condition. But day by day, I was feeling better and now I am playing my first tournament in a while and I am very happy about it,” said the 2005 and 2007 European Champion and the woman with the third-highest number of appearances on the World Tour, having competed in 165 events between 2001 and 2016.
Vicky Arvaniti, who is already a three-time Olympian, now has her eyes on reuniting with her former partner from 2013 to 2016, 25-year-old Panagiota Karagkouni, and returning to elite sport with one obvious goal.
Vasiliki Arvaniti competing with partner Panagiota Karagkouni at the Ljubljana Winter 1-Star event.
“I came back to perform on the best level that I can achieve. Our plan is to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, so we go step by step. We are starting with FIVB 1-Star tournaments and slowly we want to go further,” explained the 33-year-old from Athens.
If successful, it will be her fourth Olympic appearance. Arvaniti spent the first years of her career with Efthalia Koutroumanidou, with whom she finished ninth at the 2004 Athens Games. She then joined forces with Vasso Karadassiou, her most successful partner. The team won a record eight gold medals from the European Tour and was 19th at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The left-handed defender paired with Maria Tsiartsiani between 2009 and 2012 to finish 19th in the London Games as well. Vicky and Penny are now starting from scratch again, as Arvaniti lost all of her FIVB ranking points during her two and a half-year long absence.
“We really want to take it step by step. We are here in Ljubljana to find out where we stand at this moment. Actually, our plan was to begin competing in 2019, but when we saw an opportunity to attend the tournament here in Ljubljana, we decided to make the best out of it. We are aware it is still our first international tournament after a long break. Of course, we have the goal to get some good results, but we need more time. We know we are not in our best possible shape yet. Let us take this step by step and we will see where this journey will be taking us.”
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