Olympic fever

Although some Olympic games have already started, the opening ceremony is only hours away. The world has their eyes on London and the excitement is apparent. There are more people on the streets and Olympic vehicles and personnel are around the central. Various events are taking place around the city and a huge party with big screeAns and concerts is planned for tomorrow in Hyde Park. Today’s also the last day of the torch relay through central London.

I don’t want to be part of the pessimistic group of people loving to moan and complain that things will grow terribly wrong during the games. They’re might be some problems, that’s expected on an event of that scale, but I hope that everything will be fine. There was already a minor but funny hiccup at the games yesterday (at least very funny to me). During one of the football matches yesterday when North Korean women football team was playing, on the scoreboard the flag of the South Korea was displayed!!! They hate each other so much that it must have been a shock to them…

I haven’t booked any tickets. I can’t take any days off during the Games and JJ’s work schedule means that he will be working during some of the upcoming weekends anyway. His shifts for the next weeks are very recently finalised and we might try to get some tickets on the Paralympic events. Although it’s not entirely true, I have the feeling that the Paralympic events are not that commercialised, or at least they have an extra meaning. A friend of mine was joking yesterday that in order to support ‘Team GB’ we need to eat McDonalds, devour Cadbury’s chocolates and wash it all down with litres of Heineken beer! Since they are the major Games sponsors, it must be what the athletes do…

When I was much younger, we drove as a family to Olympia, the place where the ancient Greek Olympic Games took place. I remember the experience vividly because it was a fine sunny day and we even ran a bit around the old stadium like the ancient athletes used to do. I had found it hilarious when my father took us rolling down the nearby fields. My pants and t-shirt turned green from the grass. I think I was around 10 years old but I understood the significance of the place. That’s the same place where the ceremony takes place when the Olympic flame is lit nowadays.

We used to have a children’s book on Ancient Greece. It was big and blue with Hercules on the cover. I loved going through the pages and checking the images.  It contained some mythological stories and facts about Ancient Greece. There was a huge chapter on the Olympic Games. It explained how different city-states were competing in honour of Zeus (hence the way the flame is lit using mirrors and sunlight) and that general truce on all conflicts was imposed during the time of the Games. Only men could take part or even watch the games and the winners were treated like heroes.

Ancient Greeks paid lots of attention on ‘isterophimia’ (υστεροφημια) which can only be translated as ‘how one person is remembered by the next generations’. Winning an Olympic medal (or an olive branch that was awarded back then) was a ticket to eternity. Even today, after so many centuries, many famous athletes are still remembered, like Diagoras from Rhodes. The island’s international airport and local football club are named after him and he used to compete 2400 years ago! So, if it happens that you’re visiting South Greece, go to Olympia.