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Feature
GREEK TRAGEDY:
HOW THE FINANCIAL CRISIS HAS HIT GREEK SPORT
As the fallout of the Greek financial
meltdown continues to rock the
country, it seems that sport has
become the latest casualty of years of
mismanagement.
Athens will be sending only 75 athletes
to London this summer, less than half
of the squad that went to Beijing in
2008. Of those, many are struggling to
find financial support and are forced to
live and train on as little as $1,400 a
month.
“We have gone fromheaven to hell. This
is our reality. The country in which the
idea of moderation was born has now
gone beyond every limit”, says head
of the country’s Olympic Federation,
Vassilis Sevastis.
Some $40 million was earmarked for
preparing the Greek Olympic team
for London: but that was before the
financial crisis. The teams have so far
only gathered $10 million, all preceding
the budget cuts that have been part of
the national austerity measures. More
money coming in is unlikely.
State incentives have also gone.
Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC)
President Spyros Kapralos told
Reuters that “The debt crisis now has
affected both sport and the National
Olympic Committee. In the previous
quadrennium (2005-2008) the Greek
state paid around $30 million in
total towards the country’s Olympic
preparation.
“We had agreed the same amount
from the state (for 2009-2012). In 2010
and 2011 the amount we got from the
Greek state was zero,” he said. “So our
preparation has suffered.”
Olympic hopeful and pole-vaulter
Kostas Filippidis is one of many Greek
athletes forced to train on a very slim
budget, but he is bullish. “Of course it’s
By Timothy Mottram
Photo by linmtheu
CRISIS IN ATHENS:
Greek residents take to the streets to protest austerity measures.