{"id":12424,"date":"2026-08-04T13:16:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.econ.uoa.gr\/?p=12424"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:16:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:16:23","slug":"great-success-of-the-greek-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.econ.uoa.gr\/en\/great-success-of-the-greek-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Great success of the Greek team at the 9th International Economics Olympiad 2026 \u2013 One silver and three bronze medals"},"content":{"rendered":"

PRESS RELEASE<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

On Monday, July 20, 2026, the 9th was successfully completed.\u03b7<\/sup> International Economics Olympiad (IEO) hosted by China. This year's Olympiad was held in the city of Shenzhen in Southern China and welcomed delegations from 55 countries in person, a new record number of participants.<\/p>\n

For Greece, which participated for 8\u03b7<\/sup> For the second time in a row, the results were very good. Four of the five students of the Greek team won a medal. Specifically, the silver medal was won by Nikolaos Gatsios (1st Arsakeio Lyceum of Psychiko), while the three bronze medals were won by (in order of ranking): Charalambos Damaskinos Vagelatos (St. Catherine's British School Athens), Evangelos Chouliaras (Model Lyceum of Anavryta) and Dimitris Koukounaras (6thth<\/sup> Kalamaria High School). The 5th<\/sup> member of the Greek team was Taxiarchis Gabriel Makaronis (2th<\/sup> EPAL Mytilene), who also made a remarkable appearance.<\/p>\n

The Greek mission was led by Professor Loukas Zaheilas of the Department of Economics of the University of Thessaly, as Leader A, and Maria Kontaxi, member of the same Department's Executive Committee, as Leader B.<\/p>\n

From our country, the following participated in this year's event:<\/p>\n

(a) to the International Committee of Evaluators and Topics, the professor of the Department of Economics of the University of Thessaly, Michalis Zoumboulakis.<\/p>\n

(b) as executives of the organization, Christos Benos, a doctoral candidate of the same Department, as Academic Department Leader of the IEO and ex officio member of the Topics Committee, and Spyros Terzis, a postgraduate student in Informatics and member of the Organizing Committee with responsibility for managing IT issues.<\/p>\n

(c) in the organization of IEO OpenTrack, as a member of the Olympiad alumni network, the triple Olympic champion Christos Loukas, a student of the Department of Economics of the AUEB.<\/p>\n

This year's Olympiad was attended by 263 students from 55 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Oceania. These students, most of whom were high school seniors, had distinguished themselves in their respective national competitions.<\/p>\n

The competitive part includes the individual Economics and Finance round, with multiple-choice and development questions, and the group Business Case round, where students are invited, within 24 hours, to study and analyze a business problem and present their proposed solution.<\/p>\n

The 5 students who represented our country qualified through the 7th<\/sup> Panhellenic Student Economics Competition 2026, which was organized by the Department of Economics of the University of Thessaly in collaboration with the corresponding Department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and with the official permission of the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, and was completed in February 2026.<\/p>\n

After the completion of the Competition, the students prepared with the methodical guidance of the professors of the Department of Economics of the University of Thessaly, Loukas Zaheilas, Michalis Zoumboulakis, Athina Economou, Vasilis Zervos, Kyriakos Emmanouilidis, Paschalis Arvanitidis, Marios Economou and Maria Kontaxi, the professor of the Department of Economics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Stefanos Papadamos, as well as the professors of the Department of Economics of the National University of Athens, Stelios Kotsios, Frangos Kourantis and Pantelis Kostis. The special preparation for the Business Case was undertaken by Apostolos Manolis, Accounting Manager of EUREKA HELLAS S.A.<\/p>\n

The 2025 Olympic champions, Michalis Tsoukis and Thanasis Karageorgos, also contributed to the preparation.<\/p>\n

The support of the following donors was crucial to achieving the goal of the Greek mission:<\/p>\n