“I was thinking that all these tens of thousands of people, workers, volunteers, employees, taxi drivers, bus drivers, men and women, all these people who watched the games from the stadiums, from the television – of course, we sold 3.5 million tickets and cheap tickets, the cheapest was then 10 euros. All of them, the 4.5 billion viewers who saw us, all this world who saw Greece and Hellenism travel, uniting continents. You know it was the first time the Olympic Torch Relay joined five continents. We went to 33 cities, thousands of people ran, strangers, acquaintances. All these people have kept something unique in their hearts from this experience” said Ms. Angelopoulou-Daskalaki initially.
Gianna Angelopoulou: The Olympic Games were a “national bet”
At the same time, he emphasized that the Olympic Games were a “national bet” while adding that “society was the one that believed in the goal, was inspired and decided to do everything”.
When asked what she remembers most vividly from the period of preparation for the Olympic Games, she said: “I remember those thousands of faces with anxiety: “Are we going to do it?”, they told me. They would stop on the road, open the car and ask me: “What happened Gianna, will we make it?”.
“This whole effort showed the Greeks to never give up and never let anything get them down. Nothing was easy. It wasn’t easy when we were competing. I remind you that it was after a traumatic experience of rejection of the Greek request, to hold the centenary games in Greece. They didn’t believe us. We told them we don’t want the matches by hereditary right, we want them because we are capable of doing them. We will have excellent matches” explained Ms. Angelopoulou-Daskalaki and continued: “However, this is a moral capital for Greece. That is, when Greece is convinced because of its potential and not only because of its roots”.
“When you do something for your country, when you give your heart and soul, when you try to convince people, be with people, find common solutions, don’t give up, everything happens” he answered when asked about statement by the president of the Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach who said that the Games will always be associated with it.
Referring to the theory of many who have linked the holding of the Olympic Games to the country’s bankruptcy, she said: “When the Olympic Games are held, a country takes them. The country’s government, any government mediates the next seven years until the games are held. She is obliged.
He signs a contract with the International Organizing Committee that he will do all the Olympic works and all the other infrastructure that a country, a city needs to host the Olympic Games, and the Organizing Committee, which has a separate budget, has the budget for the games for those days .
We had a budget of 2,098,400,000 euros. We organized the matches and returned to the state. We had a surplus of 130 million euros. So, in short, the government in our own budget had a participation of 7%. Where did we get all the rest? From the tickets, from international and domestic sponsorships, from the television rights, from the IOC.
The cost of the Olympic Games in Greece was 6.4 billion euros. We are the second cheapest Olympic Games since Los Angeles in 1932 with official figures. In the year of the Games the GDP increased by 2.5%. If we had used the tangible and intangible heritage, we would have gained 0.2% of GDP every year. Therefore, this is a myth. This myth was invented by those who hate the exploits of the Greeks.
Because the Olympic Games were an achievement for the entire country.”
“Greece is back on the map with the Olympics”
Ms. Angelopoulou-Daskalaki noted that “with the Olympics, Greece is back on the map. We have gained an international reputation. We won a moment, all of us because we all participated, of great national self-confidence. We’ve been through a lot since, but that never goes away. We won Olympic infrastructure, regardless of whether the state did not use it afterwards. We won amazing public infrastructure that was needed anyway. Do you know how thousands of people were trained with the latest technology requirements in all fields? Tens of thousands of people.”
Regarding the proposal made earlier by Konstantinos Karamanlis for the permanent holding of the Olympic Games in Greece and whether it would make sense to reinstate such a proposal, Ms. Angelopoulou-Daskalaki noted: “When old Konstantinos Karamanlis made the proposal, it was smart proposal and a wise one, because then there was a risk that the Moscow games would be boycotted.
The point is that this suggestion became relevant again after the Athens games because they were so well organized. I have heard it brought back by writers and journalists, even Tony Estangue “the analog Gianna” of the Olympic Games in Paris, he told me the day before yesterday in Ancient Olympia, where we met, that these games he won his first gold medal in canoe kayak and now he is in charge, that these struggles did not exist, we have never experienced them.”
Regarding whether Greece could hold such an event every four years, he replied: “You know that for the Olympic Games to go somewhere there are many factors. First of all, the existence of so many members from all over the world in the International Olympic Committee, the sponsors and everything related. I never say never. Because if you can’t achieve a big thing, you look to achieve part of that thing. I say this for the experts to hear. But the fact is, if the conditions came like this we could be ready. What does this mean? Let’s make use of this remaining legacy, even if only slowly, so that we could theoretically undertake such a case”.
Regarding the huge number of volunteers who participated in the 2004 Olympic Games, Ms. Angelopoulou emphasized that “168,001 applications were made and we stopped it with heartache because we needed 40,000.
People wanted from all over Greece and from all over the world (to participate). It was what I told you before about the Olympic Flame, Greece was traveling, Hellenism was traveling everywhere. This had created such a small country, but it gave birth to the Games, feelings which were multiplicative in how much the world appreciates us”.
Regarding whether Greece can be trained in the issue of volunteering, the president of the Athens 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee emphasized that “Greece can do everything! We Greeks can do everything, I am convinced, I experienced it personally.
No country so small, with such little potential, would be able, I say this from knowledge, even to find executives, because we Greeks did their matches, we did not import the experts, to do them, who could to do such a project, titanium in 4 years instead of 7. Since we could and did that, we can do anything.”
For the Olympians on the Euro ballot papers
Regarding the European ballot papers, which are largely made up of Olympians, Ms. Angelopoulou-Daskalaki commented: “Olympians, we must admire them, they don’t only have physical gifts, they also have strength within them.
They have learned self-control, self-discipline, patience, perseverance, tremendous effort, not giving up, and accepting failures. These people are unique and we should honor them and we should admire them. Now if someone believes that they can give to politics and they are capable, of course, I don’t think it’s bad.
But I think we should use these people for the new guys. So these people could be speaking in schools, speaking to young people who have passed or have problems telling them from their own experience. In other words, they could really be beacons of knowledge, courage, injections of self-confidence for tens of thousands of children in our schools.”
“We were laughed at by all the powerful media”
Regarding the intense distrust and criticism regarding whether Greece could cope with such a large event, Ms. Angelopoulou-Daskalaki emphasized that “nobody believed it. That is, then we suffered fraudulent attacks. We were laughed at by all the powerful media when we said that we will host over 10,000 spectators and as many attendants and judges and we will have 17,000 journalists in them. And all this during the games.
The competition season is the most complex, the most demanding, it is the biggest event, as they say, in peacetime. Dozens of things had to run at the same time every day safely, to the second. So when they saw that all this was happening, think that on the days of the games there were 301 games because every game has a qualifier for men, women, etc., it’s not just 28.
When we told them, they laughed, they literally laughed in our faces. In other words, there were times when my colleagues also held me back and I told them to be patient, we will show them, and in the following days the headlines appeared on TV, we apologize, you are amazing”.
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Tags: Gianna AngelopoulouDaskalaki Myth Greece bankrupt Olympics
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