Greece forward Kostas Papanikolaou was certainly in his bag on Friday.
The Greek team got their first win of the Olympics, defeating Australia 77-71 in their Group A game. While Giannis Antetokounmpo predictably led the way for Greece with 20 points, the team also got strong contributions from Thomas Walkup (18 points) as well as Konstantinos Mitoglou and Vassilis Toliopoulos (13 points each).
After the game, the Greece team captain Papanikolaou took a ruthless swipe at Australia in a post to Instagram. The NBL (the top professional league in Australia) had a shady post before the game in which they characterized the matchup as Australia vs. Antetokounmpo. Papanikolaou came back to that post after securing the win.
“First there is Hubris,” he wrote. “And then there is Nemesis.”
Kostas Papanikolaou didn't like what @NBL had to say pregame and responded with a story on IG after Greece defeated Australia: "First there is Hubris, then there is Nemesis". pic.twitter.com/Lmc75LVbfB
— Harris Stavrou (@harris_stavrou) August 2, 2024
In Greek mythology, Nemesis is the goddess of retribution who was known for punishing hubris (a.k.a. extreme pride). Papanikolaou clearly felt that his team was able to deliver some retribution on Friday for Australia’s pregame hubris.
Greece still needs some help to make it to the knockout phase since they lost their first two games of group-stage play during the Olympics. But they have brought the fireworks throughout these Paris Games, and Papanikolaou is continuing on that trend over social media as well.
