11 April 2014. RIA-Novosti Infographics. The Chronicle of the Ancient Olympic Games in Classical Greece

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Editor:

As for me, I favour the reintroduction of the pankration to the Olympics. Trust me, it’d become the most popular event, no question about it. Could you see heavyweight pankratists go at it? Now, THAT’S sport! Alas, we live in wimpy times… squash has a better chance of being part of the Olympics than the pankration has… damn, it’d be a prole sport to beat the band, wouldn’t it?

8 February 2014

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/sochi2014_mm/20140208/187228201/Chronicle-of-the-Ancient-Olympic-Games.html

Ura! Rasslin’ is Back in the Olympics

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The match isn’t finished. We have a second match to fight, but be careful, we’re good fighters.

Nenad Lalović

FILA President

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On Sunday, an International Olympic Committee vote reinstated wrestling as an Olympic sport, beating two other sports for a slot at the Games. In February, the IOC dropped wrestling from the Olympics from 2020 onwards, and relegated it to candidate status. A diverse coalition of countries, including Russia, Japan, the USA, and Iran all rallied around wrestling’s attempts to regain its place. In Sunday’s vote, wrestling won a majority of 49 votes, far ahead of baseball/softball with 24 and squash with 22. In an online statement, Nenad Lalovic, president of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles, said, “To the millions of wrestlers, supporters, and fans around the world that came together to save Olympic wrestling I offer a very big thank you. Every one of you fought very hard for this victory. Now, we must remain united to make certain that we live up to the expectations that were placed on all of us by virtue of this vote”. Wrestling’s governing body made a range of changes to the rules since the sport lost its Olympic place and tried to give women’s competition a higher profile. Lalovic said, “With this vote, you’ve shown that the steps we’ve taken to improve our sport made a difference. I assure each of you that our modernisation won’t stop now. We’ll continue to strive to be the best partner to the Olympic Movement that we can be”. The 2020 Olympics will be in Tokyo, which beat Istanbul and Madrid in a vote held on Saturday.

8 September 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/sports/20130908/183281394/Wrestling-Reinstated-as-Olympic-Sport.html

Editor’s Note:

Rasslin’ stomped the competition! Squash is an Affluent Effluent “country club” non-sport, whilst baseball is a local American/Caribbean thing with no worldwide following. No wonder that rasslin’ skunked ‘em! Rasslin’ is the PEOPLE’S SPORT… all that you need is a mat and two grapplers. Let’s face it, rasslin’ was an important part of the Ancient Olympics, and to kick it out would’ve castrated the Games. Now that we’ve got rasslin’ back where it belongs, perhaps, we could revive the pankration. That would be something to see! Did you see what I saw? All the Politically Correct people just fainted away at the mere thought of two pankratists getting the lion’s share of the attention in a modern Olympics… well, they were the stars of the show in the Ancient Games, weren’t they? One can always hope…

BMD 

 

Locals Attack Tax Police in Greece

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On Sunday, the Greek government said that it would strictly punish citizens for tax evasion after the residents of the small island of Hydra tried to resist the police after they arrested a restaurant owner who didn’t provide receipts to clients. A government spokesman, Simos Kedikoglou, said in a statement, “We won’t let this ruin the state”. He added that tax evasion is a “scourge in Greek society” and that we should end it, decisively and immediately. According to local TV, this weekend, riot police came to the island of Hydra near Athens to calm raging locals who were protesting the actions of financial police. The government spokesman said that the state should rebuff “tricksters” who try to weasel out of paying taxes. The parliamentary opposition called the actions of authorities unnecessary and harmful.

19 August 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120819/175317007.html

Editor’s Note:

The chances of ending tax evasion in Greece are slim to none. For Greeks, tax evasion is a minor Olympic sport, almost as popular as the old pankration was. In short, if the ND/PASOK coalition tries to shake down Greeks violently, they’re going to learn a very sharp lesson very quickly with very painful results. Remember the old saying, “Russians aren’t Germans”… if that’s true of us, it goes double for Greeks (who haven’t forgotten the nasty German occupation in World War II). To expect stodgy Teutonic “honesty” from Greeks, Russians, Romanians, Italians, Spaniards, or any other Latin/Slavic nationality is crackbrained and without foundation (Israelis and Arabs are artful dodgers, too (Moshe Dayan was NO Angela Merkel)… pecunia non olet). Episodes such as this are only a foreshadowing of the death of the Euro… at least, as a “common” European currency (it may end as a common currency for Germany, France, and the Benelux region).

It won’t be mourned…

BMD