Hellenic Forums Omogenia - YASOU - Hellenism: Booing and Hissing is UN-OLYMPIC

Let me start by welcoming you all of you who found your way here and you are kindly reading my notes.

I am a Greek living in London – UK , an ex-athlete myself who felt split in two when watching the 200m final. However one has to take a step back to understand “why” such behaviour was recorded from the part of the Greek Funs.

Many articles appeared to judge the Greek funs for the “disgraceful behaviour” - a word used in a well know national English newspapers, from a well known commentator, claiming that Greeks don’t understand the notion of athletics etc….

I will give my answer through counter-commenting the article below. Feel free to put that forward to other people too.

What is with with Greek people? They don't show up for events, and when they do, they boo those who have trained and fairly competed. They make the stereotypical "ugly" American look like a boy scout.

(Wright – not all Greeks attended the events, but in all fairness could you force someone to attend a hockey game if hockey is not well known? Lets us be real here – people tend to watch games the like or can associate with/to. You dear Americans may love to eat big fat hamburgers, that do not mean we have to do the same! Or Does it? Lets talk about booing. Although not common in the USA is a common expression all around Europe. YES not the right thing to do but in Africa people walk barefooted as they do in India too. This is something that most Europeans and Americans will consider “dirty”. Ohhoops is this a cultural difference or a different perspective? )

Their sprinters got caught doing something shameful, and they vent their anger on those who did compete fairly and won. That is so without class. In America, we would yell like crazy for our own athletes, but cheer and honour the winner regardless.

(Caught up – oooo this person should know more than we do!! Question: is there a professional athlete9talking about the top 1% here) that at some point of his or her career did not take performance enhancers? Well in my 11 years and more career in athletics I have met no-one of a top calibre – that has not taken some kind of enhancers. Sorry to disappoint you but this is life. You can not run bellow 10” in 100 just in the muscular structure mother nature has given you….. Well dear Americans you just did the job more efficiently that others have… and there is no such test than can safely say that an athlete has used enhancers two or three weeks back – net alone two or three months…..I suggest you spent a bit of brain power here and you may start thinking that 43”-44” in 400m is less than 11” in 4x100 non stop.
Talking about class – well some people were born with it, some others bought it, others stole it, and other…simple never met it. I let you choose what the person who wrote this article got his/her class from!!)

The Greek people have failed at the Olympic spirit, perhaps more so than any Olympics I have seen, and I've been watching them since 1964.

(Is that so – well it seems this voice comes from the kind of people who from the beginning said Greece will be incapable to host the Olympics – how wrong this has been- and now seek any excuse to prove themselves right. Well done then – you have just found a reason to persuade yourselves, as for the rest of us you need to work a bit harder.

Guess what: this is an opinion of someone who has just watched the games from CNBC, CNN, or any other channel and not been there him/herself – right. Talk about ability to judge based on all facts….)

I heard from a friend who's been attending. She's fluent in Italian, Greek and of course English. She's saying the the elimination of the language barrier might be a bad thing. The treatment she's gotten has been rude, and while speaking the native language typically gets you better treatment, her use of Greek when discovered to be an American has only made it worse.

(Lets talk about treatment here. Any isolated incident is right to be brought up on the surface so people can be aware and make sure it wont happen again. However it should not stamp the whole nation. Let me give you an example. If you go to any African nation, children follow you for your small change. If you open your hand instead of each of them taking one coin the first will try to take the whole lot and run without saying thank you – do you call this child a thief? Do you call all children thieves? In the US if you go down to the beach topless you are in danger to be arrested and put into jail..!!! Not in Europe. Is this kind a glove treatment better. Unfortunately you also have to speak to your foreign office – your policy the last few years has yield more disgrace for your nation that for any other nation. People can not help seeing you as colonialists who try to impose your interest against other peoples interest. Well do sort this out first and then you will see how the rest of the world will change towards you )

She's saying that if you think that the zealots among US sprorts are extreme, the Greeks are many times worse. Most don't understand the sports or the events, and many don't even know enough about their own history to understand what the Olympics are.

(That is a great insult coming from people who know which songs are at the top charts but don’t know how many starts their national flag has, or most of them simply don’t have a passport or even worst - have not travelled outside their own state. Talking about history of course ours needs a lifetime to master, yours probably can be said within one book !!! How old is the USA and what has it got to say about history?

We do know our history much better that what this person has suggested. Lets not forget that we brought and supported a substantial part of our evolved civilisation. Now regarding the Olympic games – I am an athlete and still don’t know most of the sports. Does he/she knows them all? Good for him/her if the answer is yes)

This thing of booing the other competitors when you Greeks lose, or aren't competing is shameful. Greece was a poor choice to host the Olympics.

(Regarding booing – and poor choice regarding hosting the Olympic games. Lets take it one by one. Booing is a part of the European culture. Maybe something not to be proud of but which culture doesn’t have its “good” and “bad” characteristics. Have you ever watched the UK parliament!!! Would you call them names because the way of disagreeing is by “BOOING” only because is different from that in the USA where the brawn envelope lobbing is done with the glove!! Here we boo, over there you openly disregard decisions about the environment – emissions if that rings a bell - . Well who should be more ashamed this time around? And the only thing I have to say about the ability of Greece to host the Olympics – Greece has done what others would have dreamed of. Using the underground is like walking into a museum, clean, fast, elegant,…. Using the New York underground is DANGEROUS as it is still – 2004 – MANUALLY control by human controllers, is dirty, old, infested, etc… talk about abilities here. I would invite the author of this article to visit Athens and have a look at the stadiums, the security, the highways, the Olympic Village, etc…then to express his/her opinion regarding having Greece as the organiser of the Olympic games. )

I beleive your *************, but I think it's their attitude toward tourists you're misunderstanding. I've lived in tourist destinations, and resentment of travellers is par for the course. You see the same thing in American tourist destinations where people take your money, but act like they want to spit on you.

DId you all happen to hear that they Met their ticket sales goal about 4 days ago??? And they are still selling tickets... which means they SURPASSED their goal.

And as for the booing... they were booing Kenteris.. even though he wasn’t there. I've been watching Greek tv since the beginning of the Olympics.. people were planning to boo that race b/c he disgraced the country by his scandal. They wanted him to see them booing his race so he would know how pissed they are. THE GREEKS ARE NOT HAPPY WITH HIM.

They were booing Keteris? That doesn’t make sense. They were playing the national anthem before the 200M winners even got to the podium, and booing the one athlete who made it. Booing Keteris when the athletes were on the podium? I don't think so.

(Well this is where your luck of Greek culture understanding comes. I really don’t expect you to understand us however lets give it a try. The notion of having the Greek anthem played and the funs screaming Kenteris name is out of feeling proud for the sport, Kenteris’ performance at the past, and that this was their game – that was where Greeks where supposed to take the gold again. Bringing whistles is not bad – you eat hamburgers, popcorn, hotdogs and drink soda watching games. Now what should I repeat from the above?)

Let's face it, not all Greeks are happy with their fellow countrymen’s behaviour. But this is the European way....boo and hiss the opponents. The stupid fans even bring whistles to games and actually lost a point in a Volleyball game because of it. Nonetheless, the Greeks owe an apology to the athletes of the World for their rude and reprehesible behaviour!

(Let me take the opportunity to apologise on behalf of all Greeks who with their behaviour have caused other funs or athletes discomfort. On the other hand please note that the American 200m sprinters who rightly won the games smiled and waived to the Greek funs when they were chanting Hellas Hellas and Kenteris. They could understand. However the author of the article could not. The reason is simple. Those American sprinters knew that they were competing within the territory of a great Greek athlete and this was his sport. They had to prove themselves as been better. They did and deserved the metals. Now this is not something I expect the author to be familiar with.)

THEY SEEM TO THINK GREEK ATHLETES SHOULD RUN NO MATTER WHAT. TOO BAD THEY DO NOT TAKE SOME OF THEIR TAXES AND RUN A REAL PROGRAM FOR ATHLETES...BUT GOSH, THE ONLY COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT THAT MANAGED TO DO THAT WERE THE RUMANIANS, RUSSIANS, AND E GERMANS...NOW THEY ARE SPENDING THEIR 60% TAX INCREASE ON EVERYTHING BUT SPORTS AND THE FOLKS THERE WANT TO CHEAT. .. AND INTERRUPT THINGS....WELL, WHEN YOU ARE UNABLE TO DO ANYTHINGELSE..THEN THAT IS ALL YOU HAVE LEFT. HALF THEIR TEAMS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN'S SPORTS WERE RECRUITED FROM THE US...WHY?? BECAUSE THE ENLIGHTENED COMMUNIST GREEK SOCIETY DOESN'T REALLY SUPPORT WOMEN'S SPORTS......OR WOMEN PERIOD

(Well this is where the author’s true feelings come out. First of all the author is narrow-minded, low level educated person. The reason why I say that is because – he/she does not know that Greece has never had a Communist government. He/She is also not aware that the present government is a centre/right wing party….. A communist society should have supported a communist government and not a right wing one. More over he/she has little understanding of finance or economics and refers to a 60% tax increase? Which local town newspaper he/she red this now!!! What kind of tax? The author makes a reference to the Communist Greek Society that does not really support women’s sports !!! thats great… the whole world plays football – only in the USA have discovered “soccer” !!!

And who am I to say all these things to you dear author of this article. I am a Greek, Athlete, Capitalist - Banker, who lives in London UK.

So much for the Greek communist society…… my dear friend and author of this article have a reality check before you write another article about the Greeks and the Olympics).

A.S.L - 2004