‘Mrs. A.’ saves Olympics,
challenges patriarchy
Oft-criticized diva Angelopoulos-Daskalaki destined for Greek Presidency
 Petros Giannakouris / AP file Some don't like her suits, she has a reputation for self-promoting and is the Greek equivalent of Rodney Dangerfield — ‘she don't get no respect.’ But Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki made critical decisions that kept the IOC from pulling out of Athens. Her mission was to dispell stereotypes that Greeks lack the initative to host international events. |
ATHENS, Greece - Like a goddess of Greek mythology, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki overcame all the odds to pull together the Olympics.
But the first lady of the games — who heads the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee and is widely credited with rescuing the Athens Olympics from near collapse — hasn’t warmed the hearts of all Athenians. “Mrs. A.,” as she’s known, provokes outright ridicule or reluctant respect from those who have watched her star rise.
“Oh, I can’t stand her! I don’t like her style, her face, the way she talks,” said Theodoros Stephanides, a 25-year-old architect student sipping coffee at a suburban park. “Gianna is nothing but a fake.”
He chides Angelopoulos-Daskalaki for her slick designer suits. Others make fun of her smile and seemingly endless feats of self-promotion, such as her long speech at last week’s opening ceremony.
“She only knows how to smile, with an outer facade of glamour. She doesn’t really care about Greece,” said Stephanides’ girlfriend, Daphne Dedepoulou, 24, a student of Greek literature.
Harsh words for the 49-year-old lawyer and former member of parliament — a woman many believe holds aspirations of becoming the next Greek president after returning home from London to save the day.
Angelopoulos-Daskalaki spearheaded the successful bid in 1997 to bring the Olympics back to their birthplace, only to be swept aside afterward by Greece’s former Socialist government.
She was begged to return in 2000 when the International Olympic Committee said Athens was in danger of losing the games due to massive construction and organizational delays.
Former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said in an interview Friday that the Summer Games were three months from being yanked from Athens. He credited Angelopoulos-Daskalaki as the driving force behind their turnaround.
“It was Gianna, 100 percent,” he said.
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Women in Greece, the cradle of democracy, were given the right to vote only in 1952. According to the European Union, Greek women take home only three-fourths of what their male colleagues earn, and more than twice as many Greek women than men are out of work.
While the speaker of parliament is a woman, there are only 39 women in the 300-member assembly. Greece routinely ranks at the bottom of female representation in government, trade unions and political parties among the 25 nations of the European Union.
“Greece is a patriarchal society which has been dominated by men, and they don’t like a lady who is too successful,” said Nikos Zougleris, 52, a political reporter for the Apoyevmatini newspaper. “But I think this is the beginning of a new era for women in Greece.”
He was sharing coffee and cigarettes with longtime friend Ria Rigatou, who noted that the mayor of Athens, Dora Bakoyianni, is also a woman credited with tidying up the city before the games.
Angelopoulos-Daskalaki “should go down in history for proving that a woman can pull off even a big event like this,” said Rigatou, 36, who owns a magazine. “Greek men always want a strong woman behind him — but not out there in front of him.”
Rigatou said women are better multi-taskers than men, able to juggle child care and work with greater ease.
“The ability to multi-task is absolutely critical to organizing the Olympic Games, but I think Mitt Romney or Michael Knight might be amused at the idea that only women have that ability,” Angelopoulos-Daskalaki told The Associated Press in response to questions e-mailed to her office.
The two men were organizers of the Salt Lake City and Sydney Olympics.
Angelopoulos-Daskalaki — who has been lampooned by local media press for her demands and outbursts of anger — made it her mission to prove that Greeks, often derided by other Europeans for a lack of initiative, could rise to the occasion.
“Beginning with the flawless opening ceremony, billions of people are finally beginning to learn what Greeks already know — that we are a modern, dynamic, efficient nation, ready for any challenge and able to play a larger role in our region and in the world,” she told AP.
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She was elected to parliament three years later.
The tale Athenians love to tell with a roll of their eyes — and one she denies — is that Angelopoulos-Daskalaki met her second husband during a church service in which she swooned from the heat and landed in his arms. She resigned her seat in parliament to marry him and moved to London to help with the business and raise their two sons and daughter from her first marriage.
The perception around town is that the woman who smokes Cuban cigars now hopes to replace President Costis Stephanopoulos when he completes his second term next year. The position holds little power, but it’s a perfect outlet for Angelopoulos-Daskalaki’s apparent love of the limelight.
When asked about her political aspirations, she said only: “I have no specific plans for after the games, except to relax and spend time with my family.”
Like all good politicians, Angelopoulos-Daskalaki smartly sidesteps her critics who claim she is too brash, flashy and confident.
To them, she says: “Enjoy the games and relish in what we Greeks have built together and shown the world.”
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