Schinias Beach, Marathon: A Romanian Won Her Eighth Olympic Medal at Nearly Forty on the Lake Behind the Sand

Greece | Schinias | Marathon Municipality, East Attica

Behind the pine-backed sand at Schinias, the Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre built for the 2004 Athens Games still functions as a working training facility, and one specific result from that summer stayed with me after I read about it. Elisabeta Lipă, the Romanian rower, won gold here in the women’s eight at almost 40 years old, her eighth Olympic medal across six Games stretching back to 1984 — a span of twenty years between her first gold and her last, more medals than any other rower in the sport’s history. The race itself was close: the United States led for most of it, but Romania’s crew put in what observers called a devastating push in the third 500 metres, and the rest of the field had no answer. Over 550 athletes from 55 nations competed at the venue that August, with eleven nations winning at least one gold medal.

The venue’s own history is less smooth than the medal table suggests. Construction drew real controversy at the time, since wetlands were remodelled to build it, and a 2003 test event, the World Rowing Junior Championships, was disrupted by gale-force winds that waterlogged boats and forced organisers to shorten the final rounds rather than risk worse conditions on the second half of the 2-kilometre course. After the 2004 Games, the facility sat largely unused for two years before a 2006 revival brought the European Canoe/Kayak Championships and renewed investment, and the centre remains today one of only three facilities worldwide approved by the international rowing federation as a training site. The surrounding wetland, meanwhile, supports more than 79 recorded bird species and at least one prehistoric fish species living in the rowing course’s own waters — and, in an earlier and less celebrated chapter, a United States military base operated in this exact area until 1953, with arbitrary construction and pollution following its closure before the National Park designation and the Olympic project eventually helped restore the wetland.

Getting There: 50 to 60 Minutes From Athens, via the Attiki Odos or Mesogeion Avenue

The drive from central Athens follows the Attiki Odos or Mesogeion Avenue toward Marathon, watching for signage for Schinias and the National Park, the full journey taking roughly fifty to sixty minutes. Parking is available near the beach bars and in official lots in the town of Schinias, though driving within the pinewood itself is strictly regulated and enforced with fines, so I’d stick to the designated areas rather than risk it.

The KTEL Attikis bus departs from Pedion tou Areos, dropping passengers within walking distance of the shore, and the Metro Blue Line to Nomismatokopio connects to a local bus toward Kato Souli or Marathon as an alternative route.

The Beach: Five Kilometres of Pine-Backed Sand, Shallow for Thirty Metres, Windsurfing Throughout

Schinias stretches for more than five kilometres, one of the longest beaches in Attica, the sand fine and soft with a seabed sloping gradually enough that the water stays at waist height some thirty metres from shore — a quality that makes this one of the more consistently recommended beaches in the region for families. The Kynosoura peninsula shelters the bay, keeping the water calm even when the Meltemi disturbs more exposed stretches elsewhere along this coast, and the Stone Pine forest grows right to the edge of the sand, providing natural shade without needing a rented umbrella.

The western end of the beach holds the organised section, including Karavi and Moraitis Beach Schinias Marathon Greece, the windsurfing club founded in 1979 and among the older operations of its kind anywhere. Schinias remains the recognised centre of windsurfing and stand-up paddleboarding in Attica, the steady, predictable coastal breeze drawing both beginners and serious athletes throughout the season.

Schinias Beach, within the Schinias Marathon National Park, sits directly beside the Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre built for the 2004 Athens Games, where Romania’s Elisabeta Lipă won her record eighth and final Olympic medal at nearly 40. The venue’s own history includes real environmental controversy during construction, a wind-disrupted 2003 test event, two years of post-Olympic dormancy, and a 2006 revival that restored its role as a working training facility, all set within a wetland supporting dozens of bird species and a US military base that operated here until 1953. The beach itself runs over five kilometres of pine-backed sand, shallow and family-friendly, with windsurfing centred on the organised western end at Moraitis and Karavi. Fifty to sixty minutes from Athens, with Marathon Beach Nea Makri Attica Greece and El Pouda Beach Dikastika Attica Greece, forming the wider stretch of this same protected coastline.

Drive via the Attiki Odos or Mesogeion Avenue, parking only in designated lots. Walk back from the beach to see the rowing course itself. Windsurf or swim at the western end near Moraitis and Karavi.