Aikaterini Stefanidi

Who is Aikaterini Stefanidi?

Katerina Stefanidi is a Greek pole vaulter. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was the 2012 Pac-12 and NCAA Champion. She has a personal record of 4,51m for the event.

Stefanidi was born in Athens, Greece to Greek parents. She attended the 1st High School of Pallini and while there she won the National High School Championships, she broke the National High School record in the pole vault and she won gold at the 2006 Gymnasiade while breaking the Championship record. She gained an athletic scholarship at Stanford University and began competing for the Stanford Cardinals in 2009.

Growing up she broke all of the World age-group records for the ages of 11, 12, 13 and 14 and less than a month after she turned 15 she broke the World Youth record in the pole vault with a jump of 4.37m in Athens, Greece. Her first international experience came at the age of 15, when she represented Greece at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Marrakesh, placing first with a jump of 4.30m. At the following edition of the championships, the 2007 World Youths, held in Ostrava, she won silver in the pole vault with a jump of 4.25m. In 2008 she represented Greece at the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, where she won silver with a jump of 4.25m. That same year she entered Stanford University and began competing for the Stanford Cardinals.