Local senior Olympian displays medals

George D. Demos with some of this medeals. Not all of his medals are shown due to website formating requirements. Courtesy photo

George D. Demos, 11th Airborne Division, 187 Regimental Combat Team, has amassed more than 100 medals, most of them gold, after participating in more than a dozen Senior Olympic games.

According to Demos, of Huntington Beach, he has participated in a variety of track and field events, including the 50-meter dash, the 100 meter dash, the 200 meter run, shotput, discus, javelin throwing, long jump, high jump, triple jump, softball throw, and a 100 meter race involving a grandparent and grandchild.

Demos, a retired colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and Professor Emeritus at Cal State Long Beach, has been participating in track and field events since high school. He is reportedly the reigning champion of the U.S. Army 1 mile, 880 race held at the 11th Airborne Division in Sapporo, Japan.

Demos thanks his Greek heritage for some of his track and field prowess. His father was born and raised in Sparta, Greece. The former paratrooper visited Sparta for the 2006 Olympic games and found more than 30 pages of Demos’ in the local phone book.