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Newsletter 23
July 2003
Prometheas wishes all its members Good Summer. With most members heading to Greece for the summer, local activities are on the decline. However, we will be back in September with Prometheas’ Kafenio scheduled for September 26th with Achilleas’ music, etc. In the mean time, here are a few interesting articles we have come across. "Working Miracles" for the 2004 Olympics Denis Oswald, heading the IOC's coordinating committee for next year's Olympic Games in Athens, made an inspection tour of preparations in early June with a small group of IOC officials. In Milan on his way to Greece, Mr. Oswald spoke of the "miracles" that Greece has worked in the past in the face of doubters such as those who worried about the rowing venue at Schinias which is now "splendid" and almost completed. The first test events will be held there in August. Similarly, he said he has received assurances that, with demolition now under way, the re-built Karaiskaki soccer stadium will be ready on time. Mr. Oswald was cheerful also about the prospects for the Athens Olympics when he spoke to a group of almost 200 press representatives during their four-day orientation meeting, June 2-5. He told them that the Athens Games will be "different" from any in the past. He had praise for the "excellent" press facilities which, for the first time, included special accommodation in "press villages." The Press Center, Oswald said, is the finest of any previously built.
§ Ticket sales for the 2004 Games, with total orders of 591,112 so far, have almost doubled the expectations of 300,000 by this date. Sales totaling ·47 million are more than double the Ÿ20 million target set for June 12, when the first phase of ticket sales expired. In that phase, sales were limited to citizens of the European Union and the European Economic Area. Greek citizens accounted for 82 percent of the requests, followed by applications from Britain (11 percent), Germany (4 percent), France (2 percent) and the Netherlands (1 percent). At 32 percent, tickets for the track and field events were by far the most in demand, followed by 11 percent for the opening ceremonies and 9 percent for basketball. The second phase of ticket sales will begin on September 15. § Security at the 2004 Games will be strengthened by a new computerized records system for the issuing of credentials. With the help of new equipment, the criminal records division of the Ministry of Justice will be able to process accreditation requests forwarded by the Athens Organizing Committee (ATHOC) within three days. Announcing the new system, Justice Minister Philippos Petsalnikos gave assurances that as required by the laws of Greece and the EU, personal data of applicants will be fully protected. § The multi-colored emblem of the Cultural Olympiad to be displayed at all the events preceding the 2004 Games was presented at a ceremony in Athens on June 9. Artists from New York, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Dubai, London and Athens shared in the design of the emblem to include elements of their respective cultures. § ATHOC reported a nine-fold increase of visitors to its internet site in May over the month of April. Most of the visits were from the US, followed by Britain, Greece, Japan and Germany.
The Athens Olympics: Building for the Future Two long reports, June 17 and 18, by George Vecsey in the New York Times describe preparations for the 2004 Athens Olympics. In "Athens Puts its Game Face On," Vecsey quotes IOC coordinating committee chief Denis Oswald's impression that despite continuing anxieties about time constraints on the completion of some projects, his experience when viewing the scene from a helicopter last January was "very impressive." The June 17 report also quotes Peter Ryan, the British consultant on security for the Games, as dismissive of fear for the safety of the Athens Olympics. The November 17 terrorist group has, he pointed out, been dismantled and, compared with the 9,000 security personnel for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and the 15,000 for the 2000 Games in Sydney, Athens will deploy a total of 45,000 security officers. The new Athens airport, he also pointed out, has "far more security than most American airports." Vecsey was impressed by the skills and dedication of the Organizing Committee staff. "If a windmill or turbine engine could harness their language skills, impressive degrees, work histories, sheer energy and national pride, the pile drivers would pound even harder … Creative brainstorms," Vecsey continues, "have placed major events in famous settings of Greece." The cycling road race, first event of the Games, will have "Lance Armstrong whizzing through the Plaka, where Socrates and Plato once strolled; the marathon races will begin on legendary Marathon itself; and the archery event will be held in the Athens stadium which was the site of the first modern Games in 1896 . . . On a pleasant night, with a full moon shining over the Parthenon, it is impossible not to feel the romance of this Athenian venture." § In his second report—"Building for the Future, Unearthing the Ancient Past," Vecsey describes the excitement—and the problems–created by the discovery of ancient treasures as Olympics-related excavations progress. "Some of the artifacts are displayed in the museum-like mezzanine of the handsome Syntagma Square (metro) station," he writes. "There is a positive side to all this digging: the wetlands have been reclaimed. Birds and fish are returning to the area. The thick pine grove along the sea is being nourished by fresh water…Other antiquities have been unearthed. At the athletes' village a portion of an aqueduct built by Hadrian of Rome was discovered. At the Markopoulo equestrian center a rare statue of the goddess Aphrodite was found . . . The archaeologists rescued many artifacts for the city's museums, many of which are now closed as Athens becomes a dusty and uncomfortable construction site. But the metro line from Dafni to Sepolia has been completed—a glorious, clean, quiet, tasteful and modern mixture of art and technology."
The Washington Post of June 26 published the results of a four-year study, involving 22,043 Greek adults aged from 20 to 86 years old, to determine the effects on health of a Mediterranean-style diet. The study found that eating plenty of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil and fish reduces by at least 25 percent the risk of dying from heart disease or cancer. "What the results underscore," the report says, "is the importance of the overall Mediterranean diet approach, rather than one food type." The study suggests "a middle course between the often confusing diet extremes, from the very low-carbohydrate, high-fat Atkins approach to the higher carbohydrate, low-fat US dietary guidelines." The study was based on a point system, taking account of daily diet and exercise habits and the amount of alcohol consumed (moderate is good). Other elements of the study, led by Antonia Trichopoulou of Athens University Medical School and Dimitrios Trichopoulos of the Harvard School of Public Health took account of age, sex, years of education, smoking habits, body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio. "The study found that the higher the healthy diet score, the lower the risk of death … Daily activity also played a critical role in reducing mortality from heart disease and cancer … People who engaged in at least an hour a day of very vigorous activity, either on the job or at leisure, had a 28 percent reduced risk of mortality compared with their more sedentary counterparts … The findings echo the result of smaller studies, including the Lyon Diet Heart study in France, that have hinted at the benefits of the Mediterranean lifestyle." Setting Free The Bears
By ANTHEE CARASSAVA | Athens Posted Sunday, April 20, 2003; 14.23 BST In this special issue, an honor roll of European, African and Middle Eastern heroes, TIME salutes those people who remind us what it means to make a difference. Dancing bears don't learn to dance. They're tortured into it. When they are cubs, their "trainers" smash their teeth with hammers to destroy their main defense. Their lips or noses are pierced with a metal loop linked to a chain leash. And their owners then cast them onto burning coal or sheets of hot metal while playing drums or tambourines in the background. Soon the painful Pavlovian method has the brown bears rearing on their hind legs, hopping from one foot to the other, even on flameless ground. Sounds harrowing? For years, the Greeks — hosts to one of Europe's largest populations of protected brown bears — seemed unfazed. But in 1992, Yannis Boutaris, the country's best-known winemaker, stepped in. "People thought I was mad," he recalls. "'What are you going to do?' they would say. 'Drop your grapes to save the bears?'" To a great extent, he has. White-haired, urbane and a vivid visionary, the bespectacled Boutaris set up Arcturos, a two-hectare sanctuary for dancing bears confiscated (from their mainly Roma owners) after the practice was banned in Greece. Now, a decade later, the once-tiny nonprofit organization has mushroomed into a cross-border project that tracks bear movements with electronic collars clasped on some of the estimated 150 endangered bears that roam Greece's frontiers with Albania and Macedonia. So far, 13 bears have found a home in his fenced sanctuary, at Nymfaio, in northern Greece. Arcturos has launched a similar program for wolves, blocked a state highway that would have interfered with bear habitats, and is planning an ambitious project to convince consumers to switch to environment-friendly energy sources. "We've been pioneers," says Boutaris, 60, "not because we've done something unique, but because we altered people's attitudes about the environment here." Better yet, he adds, "we did so without hysterics." We'll dance to that.
THE HELLENIC AMERICAN
WOMEN’S COUNCIL Invites you to A FAREWELL TEA In Honor of Her Excellency Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, Ambassador of Cyprus to the United States Saturday, July 26, 2003 3:00-5:00 p.m. The St. Regis Hotel 16th & K Streets, N.W. Washington, D.C. Reservations Required HAWC Members: $30.00
Nonmembers: $35.00 For Additional Information
Please Call: Maria Stamoulas – (202)
464-0400 Maria Papathanassiou –
(202) 895-1670 Or send e-mail to: HAWCDCEVENTS@Hotmail.com
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Fax_______________________ Member of HAWC: ____Tickets x
$30.00 =______________ Nonmember:
____ Tickets x $35.00 =______________ Total
______________ Please make checks payable
to: “Hellenic
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Send to:
1319 Eighteenth Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036-1802 |
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