| Cheburashka is torn into pieces
The brown, eared friend of all Russian children and Olympians found himself at the center of a financial scandal. Cheburashka, appointed as the mascot of the Russian team at the Olympics, appeared not only in Athens, but also on the shelves of Moscow stores. The price of an illegal immigrant, who, according to legend, illegally arrived in the USSR from Africa in an orange box, is about 50 euros.
The creator of Cheburashka, writer Eduard Uspensky, is dissatisfied with this circumstance. He wrote an open letter to the Russian Olympic Committee and the Bosco-Sport company, which is the general sponsor of the Russian team. “We have entered into a non-commercial agreement with you to use Cheburashka as the mascot of the Olympic team. To our great surprise, the talisman is sold in stores,” said Mr. Uspensky.
The president of the ROC, Leonid Tyagachev, has already responded to the writer’s claims. “Athletes like Cheburashka. And the Olympic Committee has nothing to do with how much it costs. But I would like, if it is sold, to allocate at least 50% for the sport,” said Leonid Tyagachev, making it clear that the sport has not only warm, but also mercantile feelings for this fur-bearing animal.
Olympian hits Jamaican tourist
Attending the Olympics is not only unprofitable, but also life-threatening. A Jamaican tourist has died in a road rage incident after he was hit by a car driven by a Danish yachtsman. On Monday night, a 45-year-old tourist was hit and killed on Athens' Poseidonos Highway, in a lane reserved for Olympic-accredited traffic.
A 23-year-old Olympic sailing participant, Danish Niklas David Holm, was detained at the scene of the incident. He was driving the car that hit the British man. The tragedy occurred when Holm went by car to attend a match of the Danish women's handball team. A coach and a team assistant were in the car with him. The Danish athlete did not try to hide from the police and successfully passed the blood alcohol test.
Yesterday, the Danish athlete appeared in court and was found not guilty. It was found that a car driven by a member of the Danish Olympic team was moving through the streets of the Greek capital at a speed of 60 km per hour, and a tourist suddenly appeared in front of the car, and a tragic and fatal incident could not be avoided.
After the court decision, the Dane is allowed to compete at the Olympic Games. However, Holm, who is due to start on Saturday, is in shock and has not yet decided whether he will be able to take part in the Games. His family and friends, as well as a psychologist, urgently flew to Athens to see him.
The Chinese were obliged to share
Olympic medalists from China will not be able to take full advantage of the bonuses they receive from the state. Chinese athletes will have to pay 30% of the amount due to them to the PRC Sports Federation. In addition, 10% should go to the club that trained the Olympic medalist. Another 10% will be withdrawn as income tax. Thus, each Chinese Olympic champion will receive 100 thousand instead of the promised 200 thousand yuan (about 24 thousand dollars).
From each according to ability, to each - a ticket
The International Olympic Committee is extremely concerned about the low attendance at the competition in Athens. And earlier it was noticed that the Greeks and guests of Hellas are extremely reluctant to buy up tickets. But the organizers of the Games assured that the residents of Athens would eventually get a taste for it and would simply storm the box office. The bright hopes were not justified. At the moment, out of 5 million tickets, only 2.9 million have been sold.
Empty stands are extremely annoying to the IOC. Officials wanted to show the whole world that the Olympics are interesting for everyone. However, television broadcasts prove the opposite: it is sometimes very difficult for camera operators to find even a handful of fans at some competitions. At most 300-400 fans wander into some games, and the triumph of the Turkish woman Nurcan Taylan, who won the weightlifting competition, seems to have been seen live only by a narrow circle of close relatives and friends of the competing athletes. Even the tennis tournament does not generate traditional interest. The only one the Greeks came to see was Marat Safin, and half the stadium gathered to see him.
There are several reasons for this low attention. First of all, there is a lack of advertising and posters in the city. Spectators, even if they gather to watch any competition, run the risk of simply not knowing about the start date. After the scandal that involved the Greek sprinters Kenteris and Tanou, local residents were offended by the Olympic Games, and it seems that they are going to ignore all the competitions. Hopes for tourists were not realized. Travel agencies, hotel owners and airlines have raised prices so much that only a few sports fans have managed to get to Athens. And those who did arrive were forced to book expensive rooms: hotel owners secretly do not rent out cheap rooms. So there are even fewer tourists in Greece now than usual at this time of year.
Olympic organizers and the IOC are desperately trying to save the situation. A new advertising campaign on television and radio will be launched as soon as possible, calling for tickets to be snapped up. 35 additional cash desks are opening. But these efforts will not be enough. So the IOC organizers plan to distribute tickets for free. The lucky winners of free tickets will be volunteers working at the Olympics. But here the question arises: who will perform their duties, while the volunteers themselves will enjoy sports competitions. Prepared by Andrey VDOVIN
|
