Nikola Papatheodorou won Greece’s first gold medal at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, taking the 50‑metre breaststroke title with a time of 25.69 seconds. He shared the top spot with Portugal’s Miguel Reyes Oliveira, who also finished in 25.69 seconds. The bronze medal went to Belgium’s Bige, who recorded 25.91 seconds. Papatheodorou, who had previously competed in two other breaststroke events at the Games, said: “I wanted to win this medal; it was very important to me. I had been chasing it from the start, but it didn’t come out in the other two races. I told myself I would win it in this event and I did. I’m very happy. The race went very well, I earned it, I finished very well, and I’m very happy at this moment.” In addition to the gold, Papatheodorou earned a silver medal in the 100‑metre breaststroke and a bronze in the 200‑metre breaststroke, completing a podium sweep for Greece in the event. The gold medal is the fourth overall for the Greek delegation at the Youth Olympic Games, and the first for the country at the Dakar 2026 edition.