Tuesday, September 22

The Winner Takes an Olive Branch

The Cross Country Race made the glorious final of a hard sports competition in the burning Greek sun. Its happy male and female winners from every starting group were praised by a fresh olive branch like in ancient olympic times. To succeed in this part of the Coubertin Award the students had to compete in Greek Style Long Jump with Weights, Discus in paralympic style, a short sprint, Swimming and then the Cross Country Race. The starting machine was eye catching, having been built by Semir, following ancient olympic idols. Unfortunatly some participants struggled because of health problems.. Luckily nobody got serious injuries and all of them are able to join the upcoming adventures with their newfound friends. All in all a wonderful event.

Dear Cooking Team

Zoi Triantopoula about Greek food at the Olympic Academy:” The food here is delicious. We have the opportunity to taste many different dishes, like mousaka, spicy red pepper, chicken, tzatziki, salad and feta.”

We wanted to know: who works behind the scenery and what they think about their guests from all over the world. “We are very pleased with their behaviour until now. They are all very polite and cause no trouble at all. Although they are from different countries, have a different cultural background and habits, they are very mature (thanks to their teachers!)

And what do they think about the Youth Forum itself?

“It is a unique event and transports a variety of values through the work of the 

participants like friendship, solidarity, team spirit, friendly rivalry. In addition it offers the chance to visit foreign countries, meet interesting people and most important make new friends.

A Special Interview with a Kangaroo, that Nearly Got Killed Twice

There is one very special participant at the Youth Forum this year. He travelled 23.000 kilometers to Olympia.. We talked to this special guest.

Hello ! First of all, how should I call you?

Hi, my name is BK. It stands for “Boxing Kangaroo”. I travelled as the mascot of eight Australian students to Olympia. These students were selected by there schools and they are all very good sportsmen and –women.  My Australian friends are : Jess, Katharina, Ryan, Josh, Oliver, Angus, Louise, Lauren.

How was your trip?

Oh, very exhausting. It took my friends and me 31 hours to get to Olympia. Espe-cially for my friend Jess who didn´t sleep at all.

What do you and your friends like about the Youth Forum?

We have never been together with so many people from different countries. That´s overwhelming and fantastic.  The scenery is very beautiful.

Can you tell us any anecdote so far?

Oh, yes. Olympia is a very dangerous place for Kangaroos.I nearly got killed by museum attendants twice, because Jess put me in front of a statue to take a picture. The Creek didn´t like that and the attendant blew her whistle very loud, took me and threw me on the floor. I had to learn, that it´s disrespectful to make pictures like that. But I still really like Greece.

Group-Presentations: A Modern Fairytale about Olympic Values

The difference between Austria and Australia  is more then just the last four letters. The first eleven groups of the Youth Forum 2009 presented their schools and  countries with creative performances during two evenings.  Most of the schools had prepared power point presentations and videos, some others, like the Norwegian delegation told a  modern fairytale about Olympic Values.  The French students did sports performances like showboxing. An explosive mixture was the introduction of the group from Radstadt in Austria. They created the colors of their national flag with a chemical reaction in three bottles. The students from Tábor impressed the audience with traditional dances and a  knight tournament. “We will rock you”,  was the idea of the Italians and it worked, every body joined in.