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Foreign Press on Athens 2004


Ziaka

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They will be very sad, if the games would be successful...... and thel'll suffer from self-doubt

They feel themselves as the superior...race.......is all the same bred.....celtes.., anglo-saxons.... and germanics...........

They think they are the best in this world....and only they.... can do something properly........although we gave them some right to criticize....they exagerate by far........

Ask him, if they didn't have any bomb assasination attempt during the games in Atlanta.........

Who did invent Viagra ?....... The superior race ? And why ?

And this is their problem......they say.......we need Viagra ok...........but we can organise...and build in time..........

Imagine..the games...would be successful.....

Then they feel think..... We need Viagra.......but they can organise as well......

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I had read that article too, and was disgusted that such nonsense can find it's way into print.

On a positive note, I heard an interview with a British member of the IOC on the BBC last week. He said Barcelona was possibly further behind schedule than Athens is at present, and that he had no doubt everything would be completed .... ON TIME!!

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Guys, not all americans feel this way. You are reading an article from a "no name" reporter that tries to "shock" his audience with controversial material and try to make a name for himself. Maybe if he gets a name for himself he can afford to live in his own apartment without 5 room mates....

I have read many american articles that, though skeptical (and rightfully so), are very interested and excited to see the charm of the Olympic games going home.

Dont let some wanna be reporter get you heated...

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This editorial appeared in today's Chicago tribune. Since you need to register to read the online version, I provide the whole article along with a link:

Greece's Olympic challenge

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Greece's Olympic challenge

April 10, 2004

Last week, Greek Premier Costas Karamanlis, who has taken personal charge of delay-plagued preparations for the Olympic Games scheduled to begin Aug. 13, discounted fears about potential terrorist attacks.

"Greece will guarantee safe Games," he said.

The bad news is Karamanlis took office only a month ago, and construction of various Olympic venues, including the marathon route, the main stadium and the athletes' village, are still under construction with only four months to go. Construction delays in turn are feeding doubts about the efficacy of security arrangements, the most expensive ever for an Olympics: You can't mount security cameras on a wall of a building still under construction.

There is no serious talk of postponing the Games as a sop to terrorists. But the U.S. and the European Union--already heavily involved in security arrangements--need to continue and even step up their collaboration with Greece to ensure there are no loose wires in security when the Games open.

Greece has invested about $800 million in security measures, or approximately three times as much as Australia spent during the Games at Sydney four years ago, according to a spokesman with the Greek Embassy in Washington.

The Greeks have assembled an army of 55,000 security agents to protect the Games and the athletes in Athens and at five other cities hosting special events. The government enlisted the help of security officials and private consultants from the U.S., Israel, France and Britain, and hired a California security firm for $320 million.

Security concerns extend to the eight ocean liners, including the Queen Mary 2, that will be anchored in Athens' port of Piraeus.

The March 11 bombings in Madrid, combined with the war in Iraq, and the wave of terrorism and terrorist plots throughout much of the world, hover over the coming Olympic Games. So does the precedent of Palestinian terror attacks at the Munich Olympics of 1972, which left 11 Israelis dead.

But what raises the most worries is that with so little time before the Olympic flame is scheduled to be lit at the main stadium, the stadium itself and various other projects, such as rail connections to the airport and Piraeus, are still a long way from ready. Even the route for the marathon--the path that legend says Phidippides followed in 490 B.C. with news of the Athenian victory over the Persians--isn't ready for competition.

A great deal of the challenge lies in the difficulty such a small country has experienced in taking on the mammoth task of hosting the Olympics, particularly with the overlay of security. The budget has increased 22 percent to $6.1 billion from the original $5 billion. As an added kick on the shins, on April 1 the country's largest union called a 24-hour nationwide strike to demand an 8 percent rise in wages. Labor leaders have warned of more job actions if Karamanlis' ruling party doesn't heed their wishes.

The Greek government too is concerned about security concerns stifling the Olympic spirit of peace and cooperation. "It would be a great pity if these become the security games as opposed to the Olympic Games," said a spokesman for the mayor of Athens.

One of the Olympic traditions in ancient Greece was ekecheiria--a truce calling off all hostilities to effectively mobilize the youth of the world in the cause of peace, if only temporarily. Of all the Olympic traditions, that seems the most distant today.

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i agree! i dont know about all ths #@$%^T#% foreign press writers

that bitch about how Nai sounds like Nay or no in English, or that have found streets with the same name -(how many 5th avenues and main streets are there in the USA???) Also Athens is a lot bigger than Washington DC. This last guy complained about the taxis - i have never seen a cheaper and better taxi service anywhere in my life including the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and London. So this guy needs to shut up from the washington Post.

I am going to have fun in Athens this summer. Theyre gonna sit and be F***ing ignorant and culturally intolerant and whine about it. People like these make me ashamed to be part american.

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Yes the games are going to be fantastic, but I had a little laugh at your comment on the taxi service being the best and cheapest you have experienced. 90% of the time I would agree to an extent, but have you tried getting a taxi during the day when most of the drivers are changing shift, or find one willing to take you to a place a little out of the way? Bloody hell, you could wait an hour!

You can bet your ass that all these guys knocking Athens in the press will be there in the summer, enjoying it at the expense of their newspapers. I don't give a s**t what they think now. I'm fully paid up to go, and just know that they will be the most memorable games yet - for all the right reasons!!

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Not like the Washington Post would ever print a response to all the negative articles they print about ATHENS 2004, but I finally got po'd enough to write them last week.

Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post:

As a lifelong Washingtonian and Greek-American, I write to express my belief that the balanced reporting that I've come to expect from the Washington Post has been lacking in your coverage of Greece's preparations for the 2004 Olympics. Russ Baker’s article “Olympian Athens, Stuck Between Alpha and Omega” on Sunday, April 25th, crossed the line from reporting the facts to nothing short of cultural bashing.

Why a freelance writer would be permitted to denigrate Greek culture on your pages is beyond me, although maybe I should have expected it since every single article I have seen on the topic over the past year in the Post has been a negative characterization of the country and its attempt to host the Olympics.

Writing about construction delays and terrorism threats is clearly an obligation the Post must fulfill, but let's not forget that no country as small as Greece (11 million people) has ever hosted the modern Olympics and that problems were fully expected.

These are the world's games, given to us by the ancient Greeks. How about celebrating that angle a little more instead of just re-writing the same tired Greece bashing? I'm sure the post didn't spend the year before the 1996 games bashing Atlanta at every opportunity. Those distastefully ultra-commercialized Olympics turned out to be a logistical nightmare, complete with an actual terrorist attack.

Each Olympics will have its positives and negatives. Athens will clearly have its logistical difficulties simply due to the sheer size of the event being hosted by such a small country. And the threat of terrorism would unfortunately be a concern even if the games were held on the moon at this point.

Despite the inevitable problems, the games will go on in Athens this August. There are so many positives to report about a country that is unquestionably one of the world’s most popular vacation destinations. My hope is that the reporting in the Post on this topic from here on out will be up to the caliber of the athletes who will be competing, not the lowbrow culture bashing that has been taking place on your pages the past year.

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"Each Olympics will have its positives and negatives. Athens will clearly have its logistical difficulties simply due to the sheer size of the event being hosted by such a small country. And the threat of terrorism would unfortunately be a concern even if the games were held on the moon at this point."

I believe this comment is not justified, i believe that it is not the size of the country, but the heart of its people. You can build mutli million dollar venues, bridges, rail lines and all that, but without the support of the people, and to rely on them to come with open arms to the tourist the games, will be a disaster. Once you win over the people, the games will run them selves. (As evident in previous games)

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I believe this comment is not justified, i believe that it is not the size of the country, but the heart of its people. You can build mutli million dollar venues, bridges, rail lines and all that, but without the support of the people, and to rely on them to come with open arms to the tourist the games, will be a disaster. Once you win over the people, the games will run them selves. (As evident in previous games)

Well then maybe Afganistan, Ethiopia, Mongolia or Botswana should host the games :lol:

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The only countries that say there propaganda against greece are England, Australia and the americans (jews). I haven't anything from countries like france, spain, italy not even from our biggest enemy turkey.

All there good for is killing innocent people in Iraq and destroying a country that's got history.

They can go and get lost stupid idiots. If they're complaining so much it's simple don't go. Here where I work in Australia the biggest winjers are the anglo's. That's all they do all day.

Oust apo edo re palio eglimaties.

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