"It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n' roll," sang the late, great Bon Scott of AC/DC. As it turns out, the same is true if you wanna play awkward miniature ping-pong in the realm of the gods. Just ask Diana Zerdila and Giannis Kordoutis, both former Greek table tennis champions. Zerdila was "Greek table tennis Champion in all categories and levels in team and individual events," as per her LinkedIn page. Married in 1995, the power couple have long dreamed of playing the sport of the gods in the mythical home of the gods. Mt. Olympus, Greece's highest peak, has held the nation's imagination in thrall for millennia. The exploits of the Twelve Olympians combined soap opera storylines and over-the-top action in proportions rivaled only by the WWE. (Both, in fact, featured a character named "Zeus.") Meanwhile, back in the generally agreed-upon reality, Zerdila and Kordoutis began to devise a plan. Since lugging a 9'X5' table to nearly 10,000 feet seemed impractical, they settled on a 50cm X 90cm scale model made from lightweight Ocume wood. Zerdila then strapped the table to her pack, enduring the fierce wind as it whipped her bulky sail every which way.Together, they climbed the mythical but very real Mt. Olympus on August 2, 107 years to the day after the first recorded ascent. First, they set up the table, and gear for a miniature rally at 2,882 meters (9,455 ft). Then, leaving the table on its own recognizance for a short spell, they went on to summit Mytikas, Greece's highest peak at 2,917 meters (9,570 ft). As former national champions, Diana Zerdila and Giannis Kordoutis know all too well the great distance to the top of anything. They can also now tell you the exact distance to the acme of Greek topography and mythology.

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