ARTEMIDA, Greece (AP) — Strong August winds swept the eastern coastline near Athens on Thursday, drawing dozens of kiteboarders who performed impressive jumps against a cloudless sky.
Gusts of up to 60 kilometers per hour (37 miles per hour), turned the beach at Agios Nikolaos — a rugged strip east of the Greek capital, near the port of Rafina — into an open-air playground for wind sports enthusiasts eager to catch the seasonal “meltemi” winds.
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A wingfoiler skips over waves on a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A kiteboarder performs a jump during a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A windsurfer skips over a wave on a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Kiteboarder Alexios Limperopoulos performs a jump during a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Kiteboarder Alexios Limperopoulos performs a jump during a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A wingfoiler skips over waves on a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A kiteboarder performs a jump during a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A windsurfer skips over a wave on a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Kiteboarder Alexios Limperopoulos performs a jump during a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
“The bigger the jump and the longer you’re in the air, the more intense the feeling of joy this gives you,” said Alexios Limperopoulos, 38, a business owner and longtime kiteboarder who took a break from running his two restaurants to ride the waves.
The meltemi — a dry northern wind that sweeps the Aegean in summer — is dreaded by ferry passengers and commercial sailors but revered by the tight-knit community of kiteboarders who plan their days, and sometimes their lives, around the weather report.
“There’s no need to call anyone,” Limperopoulos said. “We just check the forecast, and everyone’s here. People leave their jobs, their wives, their kids — they come to kitesurf.”
The community is active year-round. Kiteboarders adapt to the changing seasons with wetsuits of varying thickness, braving the cold and winter gales that often shut down ferry routes.
“When there’s a sailing ban, we’re the ones out there,” Limperopoulos said.
A wingfoiler skips over waves on a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A kiteboarder performs a jump during a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A windsurfer skips over a wave on a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Kiteboarder Alexios Limperopoulos performs a jump during a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Kiteboarder Alexios Limperopoulos performs a jump during a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A wingfoiler skips over waves on a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A kiteboarder performs a jump during a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A windsurfer skips over a wave on a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Kiteboarder Alexios Limperopoulos performs a jump during a windy day in Agios Nikolaos Artemida, east of Athens, Greece, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday even as he has questioned her credibility to take over her country after the U.S. ousted then-President Nicolás Maduro.
The Nobel Institute has said Machado could not give her prize to Trump, an honor that he has coveted. Even if it the gesture proves to be purely symbolic, it was extraordinary given that Trump has effectively sidelined Machado, who has long been the face of resistance in Venezuela. He has signaled his willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who had been Maduro’s second in command.
“I presented the president of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize," Machado told reporters after leaving the White House and heading to Capitol Hill. She said she had done so "as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom.”
Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela, giving no timetable on when elections might be held. Machado indicated that he had provided few specifics on that front during their discussion.
She did not provide more information on what was said, and the White House did not say if Trump accepted the medal or offer other details of its own.
After a closed-door meeting with Trump, Machado greeted dozens of cheering supporters waiting for her near the White House gates, stopping to hug many.
“We can count on President Trump,” she told them without elaborating, prompting some to briefly chant, “Thank you, Trump.”
Before her visit to Washington, Machado had not been seen in public since she traveled last month to Norway, where her daughter received the peace prize on her behalf. She had spent 11 months in hiding in Venezuela before she appeared in Norway after the ceremony.
The jubilant scene after her meeting with Trump stood in contrast to political realities in Venezuela. Rodríguez remains in charge of day-to-day government operations, along with others in Maduro’s inner circle. In her first state of the union speech Thursday, the interim president promoted the resumption of diplomatic ties between the historic adversaries and advocated for opening the state-run oil industry to more foreign investment after Trump pledged to seize control of Venezuelan crude sales.
Trump has said it would be difficult for Machado to lead because she “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” but also said the meeting didn’t mean Trump’s opinion of her changed, calling it “a realistic assessment.”
Leavitt told reporters that Trump supported new Venezuelan elections “when the time is right” but did not say when he thought that might be.
Leavitt said Machado had sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. She spent about two and a half hours at the White House.
“I don’t think he needs to hear anything from Ms. Machado," the press secretary said while the meeting was still going on, other than to have a ”frank and positive discussion about what’s taking place in Venezuela.”
After leaving the White House, Machado went on to a closed-door meeting with a bipartisan group of senators.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Machado told them that “if there’s not some progress, real progress towards a transition in power, and/or elections in the next several months, we should all be worried.”
“She reminded us that Delcy Rodríguez is, in many ways, worse than Maduro,” he added.
Asked if Machado had heard any commitment from the White House on holding elections in Venezuela, Murphy said, “No, I don’t think she got any commitment from them."
Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, was exultant following the meeting, saying Machado "delivered a message that loud and clear: What President Trump did was the most important, significant event in Latin America. That getting rid of Maduro was absolutely essential.”
Machado's Washington stop coincided with U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seizing another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife less than two weeks ago at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.
Leavitt said Venezuela's interim authorities have been fully cooperating with the Trump administration and noted that Rodríguez's government said it planned to release more prisoners detained under Maduro. Among those released were five Americans this week.
Trump said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader.” Machado had steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning the peace prize, and had sought to cultivate relationships with him and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate, Machado began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush, whom Chávez considered an adversary.
Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown.
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Stephen Groves, Michelle L. Price and Matthew Lee in Washington, and Megan Janetsky in Mexico City contributed to this report.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is welcomed at the Capitol before a meeting with senators, from left, Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., as the Nobel Peace Prize recipient visits American leaders two weeks after President Donald Trump toppled Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in a stunning military raid, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, center, leaves the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, center, is welcomed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., left, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., far left, and Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., right, as the Nobel Peace Prize recipient visits American leaders at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gestures to supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado waves to supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado smiles on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado waves to supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue as she leaves the White House after meeting with President Donald Trump Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
