18 Days in August, an Olympic Blog

aka: Dimosthenis Tabakos
This is the man the packed with Greek supporters stadium was waiting to see. A gold medal waiting to happen, after scoring the highest point in qualifying. There were also loads of Italians and Canadians, but surprisingly very few from the US! There were also the token Chinese and North Koreans, probably fellow athletes themselves.

The rings final was the last event of the day, so all the Greek supporters had to patiently wait and in the meantime watch some superb performances by the other competitors of the day. What stands out is Khorkinas' fall...in the uneven bars. The Russian diva (which I waited with big anticipation) started with some really difficult moves...which proved too difficult in the end....a real shame.

There was a large list of celebrities in the VIP stands of the arena but also in the commoners seats (right behind us was Mr Skandalidis with his 2 kids). In the VIP stands I spotted: the whole Papandreou family, the Athens Mayoress and her husband (in sporting uniform), Mrs Fani Palli (depouty culture minister), Her Olympic Highness Gianna Angelopoulos in Olympic volunteer uniform, Nadia Comanechi and her husband (wildly celebrated the Romania medals). Mr Voulgarakis (Public order minister) and his kids. Mr Lianis (sports minister of the previous government). Last but not least a few rows in front of all these people was a member of the IOC with special ties with Greece. Mr Konstantine Degrecia, the ex king of Greece. In Tattler and Hello magazines he is quoted as the current king of Greece, who said these magazines had a grip on reality? Well he is not, the current king of Greece is Zagorakis, the captain of our football team which are the European Champions.

So Homeless Konstantine was there with his wife and a few of the kids....sorry I do not read Hello magazine to know which is which... there were 3-4 of them there though. At some point they unfolded an ancient looking Greek flag. Ancient not only because of its design (the old plain cross one) but because its blue colour looked really old! Maybe it is the only one he could salvage when the left Greece for good in a hurry in 1967.

Back to our sports, the moment the medal ceremony for the womens uneven bars finished, there was mayhem in the stadium as it was the time everybody was waiting for. I do not think that there has been so much cheering in a gymnastics competition before.
When the athletes entered the arena and walked to their position there was an amazing uproar for Tabakos. I really pittied him because he must have felt all this pressure to perform. These people were there for the gold medal and would not settle for anything less.
To complicate things further, Tabakos was the first to compete since the had the highest score in qualifying.
You could feel the anticipation in the air... people cheered him and encouraged him but there was an immediate silence the moment he touche the rings. A religious silence I may say. Which was broken the moment he touched the ground from his perfect program.
When the score was announced (9.862) the crowd went bananas... he scored an even higher score than in qualifying. As far as they were concerned he should get the medal immediately and they can go home happy!
Well it was going to be a bit harder than that.
Most of the following athletes were really good and performed their program with flair. However none was good enough to knock Tabakos from the top spot. Every time the score of a contestant was announced the crowd cheered wildly because it was always lower than Tabakos'

When Yuri Chechi of Italy, the last athlete to compete, finished, the crowd went wild again awaiting the confirmation. I think I sensed in his face that he was a bit angry about something, I do not know what the TV viewers managed to see. So Yuri got a great score and managed to get the third place which cheered up the many Italians in the crowd. The Greek crowd did not care about that... they got what there were expecting, another gold medal in their own Games. A much deserved medal for an athlete who is very modest and low profile (like most of the true champions).
For those that watched the TV coverage of the event, you might have noticed the blond girl volunteer that accompanied Tabakos in the arena and hugged him at the end of his attempt. Well she is not just a hot blooded fan... it is his biggest fan: his sister!

The medal in the medal ceremony was awarded by one of the two Greek members of the IOC (the above mentioned ex king does not count as Greek), Mr Nikolaou. By that moment the euphoria was filling up the arena. Yiannis who was next door in the main athletics stadium said that when it was announced that Tabakos had won, there was a massive cheer in the air (was that heard in the TV coverage?)

When the Greek national athem was heard in the arena, the everybody was singing it was quite amazing!
Waiting for more similar scenes in the very near future!