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| quote: | Originally posted by The Greek
I saw the 200m final and yes the delay was ridiculous and it shouldnt have happened. But, whene i heard that the american announcers said that the newspapers wrote that it was an american conspiracy that Kenteris, the greek sprinter didnt compete, I laughed. Because, I read half of those papers and they all wrote that it was a disgrace and shameful what the crowd did, in front of such a large television audience. So, dont believe what any idiot announcer says if you havent researched it for yourself, which applies to practically everything. |
| quote: | Originally posted by ierxium
It's known by most people outside the US that the information given to the public there gets manipulated at times. There are so many examples.
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Oh really? Mislead and manipulated by propaganda? Ok well I bothered to do the research. This is what the NY Times stated:
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When Kenteris, a gold medalist in the 200 meters at the 2000 Sydney Games, a man with boats in the Port of Piraeus named after him and also an icon in a land scarce of celebrities, missed his drug test on Thursday, the Greeks were left more tormented than usual.
''It ruins everything,'' said one senior official with the Athens 2004 organizing committee.
By Thursday night's end, Kenteris and his countrywoman, Katerina Thanou, a silver medalist in 2000 and also a no-show at drug testing, were in a local hospital with minor injuries after a mysterious motorcycle accident within hours of their missed appointment with the doping police. How much can a Greek psyche take?
''Our enemies, they are coming for us,'' an Athenian cab driver lamented.
''Is this part of an American conspiracy against Greece?'' one journalist seriously asked a United States Olympic Committee official.
''Tell Us The Truth,'' screamed the headline of a local tabloid.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...75BC0A9629C8B63
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Don’t like the NY times? How about the London Times:
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IOC denies drug test bias
By Times Online and PA Sport
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have hit back at allegations of bias in their drug-testing programme.
Games organisers have faced severe criticism from the Greek media, who claim sprint duo Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou were singled out for sustained testing while American athletes have been left alone.
The conspiracy theorists have cited Greek press claims - firmly denied by the IOC - that Maurice Greene, the favourite for the 100 metres, had a "no-show" for a test at the US pre-Olympic training camp in Crete earlier this month as evidence for their allegations.
The number of times the United States basketball side have been subjected to testing has also been mentioned, while it is claimed that two testers were arrested in Crete because American officials thought they were involved in terrorist activities.
While they have consistently refused to name anyone subjected to tests, other than those who have so far provided positive samples, the IOC are growing increasingly annoyed at suggestions that they have made an example of the hosts’ two most famous athletes to prove they are determined to fight the drugs scourge.
And, in re-iterating that neither Kenteris or Thanou have ever tested positive for a banned substance and that they voluntarily withdrew from the Games on Wednesday, Giselle Davies, the IOC director of communications, attempted to end the Greek complaints permanently.
”American athletes have been subjected to more tests than the Greek athletes even though Greece have a larger team,” she said.
”I hope that prompts a change in the line of questioning.
”All athletes are subjected to doping controls no matter where they come from.
”The IOC is determined to have a clean and honest Games right across the board.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/articl...1225407,00.html
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Don’t like the London Times? Ok well how about the International Herald Tribune:
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Search for villain in Greece starts and ends with the U.S.
Joe Drape and Anthee Carassava
It all started with two Greek athletes missing mandatory drug tests last Thursday, then appearing hours later at a local hospital with minor injuries that they said had been caused by a motorcycle accident. Konstantinos Kenteris, a sprinter, the defending Olympic men's 200-meter champion, was supposed to light the Olympic caldron for the 2004 Summer Games. Katerina Thanou was the silver medalist in the women's 100 meters in 2000 in Sydney, Australia.
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On Wednesday, Kenteris and Thanou announced they were withdrawing from the games. Wading into reporters and camera crews, Kenteris said it was time to unplug, at least temporarily, the soap opera that had eclipsed the return of the Olympics to their birthplace.
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"My country has waited 108 years for the games to come home," he said. "So with a sense of responsibility and national interest I am withdrawing from the Olympic Games." The reaction of many Greeks to the troubles of Kenteris and Thanou has caught the rest of the world by surprise.
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Amid the blanket coverage by Greece's top national newspapers and television stations are articles and broadcast reports that portray the sprinters as victims of a plan, mainly involving American Olympic sponsors and officials, to keep them off the track and ensure victories by U.S. sprinters. Last week as Kenteris and Thanou remained hospitalized, the newspaper Ethnos reported that the head of the U.S. delegation had threatened to pull out of the games if the two were not subjected to doping tests before competition. Officials of the U.S. Olympic Committee, which is in the middle of a doping inquiry of its own, denied the accusation.
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On Tuesday, the USOC denied a Greek television report that said Maurice Greene, an American sprinter, had missed a drug test here and that doping officials of the International Olympic Committee had ignored it. "We are a small country with an underdog mentality," said Thanos Veremis, a professor of history at the University of Athens. "We have had a syndrome that it's easy for bigger countries to take advantage of us. At various points in our history, we've blamed our problems on whoever was the superpower."
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Among Greeks, there is a general feeling of disappointment about the sprinters who were expected to compete for medals. Tickets to the men's 200 final had sold out a year ago.
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Some Greeks voiced skepticism about the evasive actions of Kenteris and Thanou, but there was also widespread anger in the city's taverns and on the sidewalks.
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"I'm sure the Americans, Australians and the British were involved," said Yannis Zivas, 54, a ceramics salesman. "I'm sure it was a way to get back at the Greeks for not giving them more contracts for Olympics security projects."
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It also has brought to the surface anti-American sentiment, which dates back to Washington's tacit support of a seven-year military junta that ruled Greece between 1967 and 1974. .
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"He couldn't fight against all these interests," said Ariadne Kallopoulou, a 25-year-old student, of Kenteris. "We don't like Americans. They always meddle in our affairs."
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As the case of Kenteris and Thanou dragged through this past week, Athens Olympic organizers and government officials were clearly upset that their supposed torch lighter had commanded the attention of the nation on talk radio, television and in the newspapers. The president of Greece, Costis Stephanopoulos, described the case as a "great embarrassment."
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"This whole event spoiled the opening ceremony and what has so far been a smooth running Olympics," said Ted Couloumbis, head of Eliamep, an Athens-based think-tank. Kenteris and Thanou appeared at the Hilton Hotel here on Wednesday, ostensibly to face a hearing before the executive board of the IOC to determine whether or not they would be eligible to compete in the games. After both withdrew, the IOC referred the case to the International Association of Athletics Federations, which will hear it on Aug. 26. Until then, Kenteris and Thanou are likely to be portrayed as fallen heroes, who were done in a fashion Greeks are all too familiar with - at the hand of another. But Couloumbis said that what is at risk is the fragile psyche of a nation.
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"The big bet of hosting the Olympics was that we could show that we were a modern Greece and were moving away from the conspiratorial culture of blaming all our misfortunes on a plot hatched somewhere," Couloumbis said. "I think what we need to do is get to the bottom of what Kenteris and Thanou were up to. The IOC or someone needs to tell us if they did anything wrong. "Unless we get that, we're going to get that same old feeling of this poor girl and this poor guy were victimized. We were hoping we had moved past that."
http://www.iht.com/articles/534740.html
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Retro ...
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yes watching white people do the Macarena is a scary sight indeed. Luckily I'm hispanic so my hips can move.
