Doing it For Yiayia: Greek-American Alexi Pappas Represents Greece in Rio

Greek-American Alexi Pappas will be representing her yiayia’s (grandma’s) native country of Greece at the Olympics in Rio.

As she participated in qualifying events for the games, Alexi thought of her yiayia and how important her qualifying would be to the Rhodes native.

The young 26-year-old professional distant runner trains with the Oregon Track Club Elite in Eugene and shattered the Greek national record in her third 10,000-meter race. She will be the first women representing Greece in the event at the Olympics.

Alexi has a very special relationship with her yiayia, Mary Pappas, as her mother passed away when she was only four-years-old and her yiayia became a surrogate maternal figure.

“To talk to my yiayia about it afterward was the most incredible thing because it means a lot to me, but it also means a lot to my relationship with her,” said Pappas to usatoday.com.  “I haven’t seen her this energetic in a long time. She is ecstatic.”