About nine Greek Australians have been recognised in the Victorian Premier’s VCE Awards for their outstanding academic achievements in 2020.
The Award is bestowed on students who have achieved study scores of 46 or higher in their VCE subjects.
The Victorian Minister for Education, James Merlino, congratulated the high-achieving students on their commendation after the announcement was made on Sunday.
“These award winners are a testament to how well Victorian students, teachers and school communities adapted to the challenges of a global pandemic and still produced outstanding results,” Mr Merlino said.
Here’s the list of all the young Greek Australians who have been recognised:
Luke Parnis:
Xavier College.
Recognised for Australian Politics.
Krystal Maragoudakis:
Krystal was the Peninsula Grammar School Dux of 2020.
Peninsula Grammar.
Recognised for English.
Zara Boubouras:
Presbyterian Ladies College.
Recognised for Biology.
Nathan Betros:
Haileybury College.
Recognised for English and Physics.
Paige Marinos:
Cheryl Kaloger Brown School of Dance.
Recognised for Dance.
Marialena Loupo:
Oakleigh Grammar.
Recognised for Greek.
Katerina Bitzios:
Loreto Mandeville Hall.
Recognised for Geography.
Natalia-Elsie Mitromara:
Alphington Grammar School.
Recognised for Greek.
Zoe Christofides:
Strathcona Girls Grammar.
Recognised for History Revolutions.
* Please note the above list includes the names of those who are recognised as Greek. If you know someone else, please email us at greek@foreignlanguage.com.au.
Miltiadis Tentoglou has won gold for Greece with his final effort in the men’s long jump at the Tokyo Olympics.
He jumped 8.41 metres and was followed close behind by Juan Miguel Echeverria at 8.41m and Maykel Masso 8.21m.
“What an incredible competition. What an incredible jump, the last jump. I wasn’t able to get it right at the start. But in the end I managed to pull something out to get the medal,” Tentoglou said.
Miltiadis Tentoglou wins the Men's Long Jump Gold Medal! 🥇🇬🇷
“I want to thank all my supporters back home in Greece. They are awake right now, supporting me. It’s six in the morning maybe. So thanks to them.”
Tentoglou was switching ranks in the first few rounds and even missed a few attempts, but it was on round 6 where he leaped his best at 8.41m enough to take down the Cuban star to second place.
Echevarria’s teammate Maykel Masso picked up bronze after registering 8.21m in his second attempt.
The Battle of Chaeronea was held on August 2, 338 BCE in Boeotia, central Greece, between the army of Philip II of Macedon and a coalition of Greek city-states led by Thebes and Athens.
The victory, partly credited to Philip’s 18-year-old son Alexander the Great, cemented the Macedonian hegemony in Greece and ended effective military resistance to Philip in the region.
To mark the day of the battle, we take a look back at how it all played out.
Before the battle:
In 339 BC, Philip II of Macedon found the occasion to intervene in Southern Greece. The amphitheater conference of Delphi accused the Lokros of Amfissa of usurping the land of the Oracle and demanded the declaration of a holy war for their punishment.
The Battle of Chaeronea.
The representatives of the cities, without the participation of Athens and Thebes, appointed Filippos as general.
Philip, with 30,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry, led by his 18-year-old son Alexander, set out for Southern Greece and after passing Thermopylae, captured Elatia, where he encamped, while part of his army destroyed Amfissa.
The occupation of Elatia gave Philip control of the road to Boeotia and Attica and his move showed that he was determined to end his accounts with Athens and Thebes.
This news caused unrest among the two “pre-eternal” enemies who, on the initiative of the orator Demosthenes (leader of the anti-Macedonian faction in Athens), put aside their differences and formed an alliance.
The Battle of Chaeronea:
Philip II of Macedon’s army claims victory at the Battle of Chaeronea.
The two opposing armies took a battle position in the plain of Chaeronea on August 2, 338 BC.
The Allies deployed 30,000 men and 500 cavalry. The Athenians were led by Generals Stratoklis, Haris and Lysiklis, while the Thebans were led by Theagenis.
The army of the Macedonians, led by Philip, excelled in cohesion and military experience. He had high-level leaders, such as Alexander, Antipater and Parmenion, while the Allied generals were of limited ability, with little combat experience. An exception to the military mediocrity of the allied force are the chosen Thebans of the Holy Corps.
Philip led the right wing and was facing the Athenians, while Alexander was at the head of the cavalry and was facing the Thebans. At the beginning of the battle, Philip maintained a defensive stance against the Athenians, while Alexander forced the Thebans to retreat.
Alexander then turned to the right and sided with the Athenians, who, retaliating from two points, retreated.
Alexander the Great played a part in the battle.
The battle at this point had been decided. The Athenians lost 1000 men, while 2000 were taken prisoner. The losses of the Thebans were similar.
Legacy of the battle:
Archaeological excavations near the city of Chaeronea have uncovered a mound containing the ashes of Macedonian troops, clearly built as a monument to Philip’s victory.
In addition, 254 skeletons found buried beneath a funerary marker are believed to be the remains of the Sacred Band, buried in pairs.
The battle marked the end of effective military opposition to Philip in Greece and heralded the beginning of Macedonian domination in the region.
Plant-based imitation seafood products with names like Tuno are popping up on supermarket shelves and the seafood industry says something smells fishy.
Seafood is one of the most heavily regulated industries in Australia when it comes to labelling and marketing, with local, state and the federal governments all applying rules around sustainability, traceability and provenance.
But according to 3AW, there are currently no guidelines on how synthetic and plant-based products can use names or images on their branding and packaging.
The Chief Executive of Seafood Industry Australia, Veronica Papacosta, told The Australian Financial Review (AFR) that some sushi bars were even serving non-seafood made to look like salmon or tuna.
Chief Executive of Seafood Industry Australia, Veronica Papacosta.
In response, Ms Papacosta has welcomed a Senate inquiry into whether makers and marketers of synthetic and plant-based proteins should be able to use the names of seafood, and terms such as meat, beef, chicken, pork and dairy in their labelling.
“Let’s get ahead of this. Let’s put some structure in place for the plant-based industry so that they know how to move forward,” Ms Papacosta told 3AW.
Ms Papacosta said she knew plenty of people who had been caught out by the labelling and bought products they thought were seafood.
“We’re concerned consumers could be misled by packaging and labelling that closely resembles established seafood products in the market, like prawns or canned seafood,” she told the AFR.
“There are also legitimate concerns for consumers with allergies to soy proteins, who seek out seafood only to mistakenly purchase a product that contains something completely different.
Ms Papacosta and the seafood industry has welcomed a Senate inquiry.
“We trust our food here and one of the reasons is transparency in labelling.”
The businesswoman, whose family business operates 16 fish shops, said the industry was not worried about competition as long as it was in a “fair, honest and balanced regulatory environment.”
“We advocate for plant-based proteins to establish themselves in a category of their own,” she said.
“We’ve seen successful category creation in the past with the development of margarine, and the push-back that it could not be branded butter.
“We respect people’s rights to make choices about what they eat. If you’d rather tofu than tuna, soy than salmon, or potatoes over prawns, then go for it. But don’t tell people they’re eating seafood.”
Producers of plant-based products have yet to make submissions to the Senate inquiry, which last week extended the deadline for submission by a fortnight to August 13.
Cyprus’ President, Nicos Anastasiades, has bestowed the Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios lll on Paphos-born Dr Kypros Nicolaides, a world-renowned pioneer in fetal medicine, in recognition of his invaluable contribution to science and society more generally.
At a ceremony at the presidential palace, Anastasiades paid tribute to the London-based doctor whose discoveries have revolutionised the field and earned him the title the ‘Miracle Maker.’
Anastasiades noted that Cyprus’ highest honour is normally awarded to heads of government, and only in exceptional cases to distinguished personalities.
Λαμβάνοντας υπόψη την ανεκτίμητη προσφορά, του Καθηγητή Κύπρου Νικολαΐδη στην προαγωγή του τομέα της υγείας και ιδιαίτερα στην εμβρυϊκή ιατρική, αποφάσισα πως η μόνη επάξια τιμή προς τον ανά το παγκόσμιο γνωστό επιστήμονα ήταν η απονομή του Μεγαλόσταυρου του Τάγματος Μακαρίου Γ’. pic.twitter.com/1I5ZtEs7XG
— Nicos Anastasiades (@AnastasiadesCY) July 30, 2021
“As President of the Republic of Cyprus, taking into consideration the invaluable contribution of Professor Kypros Nicolaides in promoting health, and particularly the field of fetal medicine, I decided that the only worthy honour to this world known scientist was to award the Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios lll,” the President said.
As a doctor, Nicolaides has dedicated his life to fetal health, developing pioneering research and clinical programmes for prenatal diagnosis and treatments and inextricably linking his name to numerous breakthroughs in diagnostics, including of Down Syndrome.
Through his work in medical schools and scientific publications he has helped advance prenatal medicine and opened up the horizons to the revolutionary sector of fetal surgery, the President said.
Nicolaides is known as the ‘Miracle Man.’
Nicolaides has helped promote accessibility to these breakthroughs with the establishment of the non-profit Fetal Medicine Foundation in 1995 which has invested millions in research and training, and offered scholarships to doctors worldwide, among other.
Cyprus has also benefitted from the doctor’s expertise and generosity, the President said. The Fetal Medicine Centre has worked closely with the Makarios Hospital’s gynecological department to deal with high-risk pregnancies, while Nicolaides donated cutting edge ultrasound equipment to the hospital. In recognition of the professor’s contribution, a maternity ward at the hospital was named after him.
Indicative of the world recognition Nicolaides enjoys was his recent election to the US national academy of medicine – one of only 10 clinical doctors who are not US citizens, Anastasiades said.
Pioneer of fetal medicine, Dr Kypros Nicolaides, has been awarded Cyprus’ highest honour.
Accepting the award, Nicolaides said he saw it as a tribute to the love and support to the doctors worldwide who have dedicated their lives to the service of women and their newborns.
“To those who will not compromise with the tragic reality that every minute a woman somewhere in the world dies as a result of a complication in her pregnancy or at childbirth and that the large majority of these can be avoided. To the doctors who dedicated their lives to reducing peri-natal mortality, forecasting and preventing premature births, congenital anomalies, placental insufficiency, and other,” he said.
Giannis Antetokounmpo definitely had something to declare on his triumphant return to Greece on Sunday.
The NBA star carried the Larry O’Brien Trophy with him at Athens International Airport and said he hopes to win more titles with the Milwaukee Bucks.
“We are happy to be back and that we could bring the trophy with us,” Antetokounmpo said at a news conference at the airport.
The 26-year-old “Greek Freak” sat next to the gleaming NBA championship trophy, along with his NBA Finals MVP award and his brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, 29, who also plays for the Bucks.
“We had to go through a long process (to bring the trophy to Greece),” Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “We don’t know how many days we will stay, but we will take it with us to the places we grew up, to Sepolia and Zografou.”
Sepolia is the Athens neighborhood where the Antetokounmpo brothers grew up. Zografou is the Athens suburb where Giannis began his basketball career at a local club, Filathlitikos.
Antetokounmpo has always returned to Sepolia, where he has maintained ties with the few people who at the time openly welcomed the children of poor African immigrants from Nigeria. Thanasis and Giannis were born in Greece — in 1992 and 1994, respectively — as were their younger brothers, Kostas and Alex, but acceptance as Greeks was not always easy.
The Antetokounmpo brothers plan to return to Sepolia during their current trip to show the trophies to local kids who, like many other Greeks young and old, now idolize them. Especially Giannis.
People gathered to greet the Antetokounmpo brothers at Athens International Airport. Photo: AP Photo/Michael Varaklas.
Antetokounmpo said that event will be for the benefit of children, not the media. He and his brother will also play a little basketball at a local open court, though his opponents shouldn’t be too worried.
“I’ll play as long as my knee can carry me … not very much,” Antetokounmpo said, adding that children who want to attend should wear masks.
Asked about his first title, Antetokounmpo said the celebration “did not last long. I want to live this again” with another title.
“To continue getting better, stay hungry, stay winning and live such moments with Milwaukee and the Greek national team. This feeling of winning is addictive,” he said.
Antetokounmpo signs an autograph at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, in Athens, Greece, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021. Photo: AP Photo/Michael Varaklas.
Antetokounmpo added that part of his desire to win is “because I’m a people pleaser. I want to win for (son) Liam, my mother, my family, my friends, for Greece.
“I might win the next title next year, or three years from now. But even if I never win another title in my life, I will still be OK, because that will have been God’s plan.”
Giannis and Thanasis are not the first Antetokounmpos to win an NBA championship. Younger brother Kostas, 23, did it first with the Los Angeles Lakers last season, although his contribution was limited. Kostas will play next season with French club Villeurbanne.
After a short stay in Greece, Giannis will return to the United States, where his girlfriend, Mariah Riddlesprigger, is expecting their second child later in August.
A massive fire broke out on the Greek island of Rhodes on Sunday, leaving large parts of the island without power and water.
The fire threatens the famed Valley of the Butterflies, the military base of Kalamona, and the village of Psinthos, all of which have been evacuated.
Firefighters on the scene warned residents of nearby villages and settlements to evacuate as well, as the fire is quickly gaining ground and could spread very easily.
Fire on Rhodes island. Photo: dimokratiki.
“The situation is very difficult and does not allow much optimism that the fire can be brought under control soon, due to the intensity of the winds that do not help the extinguishing work,” officers at the scene told local newspaper, dimokratiki.
More than 30 firefighters with 12 fire trucks, three fire corps on foot, volunteers, four aircraft and three helicopters, as well as the water dropping Russian Beriev-200, are currently operating at the fire front. Additional fire fighters are expected from Samos and Athens.
So far there are no reports of injuries or people in hospital due to respiratory problems.
Fire rips through Rhodes. Photo: Keep Talking Greek.
Dozen homes burn, five people hospitalised in Achaia wildfire:
Firefighters operate during a wildfire near Lampiri village, west of Patras, Greece, Saturday, Jul. 31, 2021. Photo: AP Photo/Andreas Alexopoulos.
Greece is hit by forest fires every summer, but experts have warned that global warming increases their frequency and intensity.
Greece has been in the grip of another heatwave since Friday, with temperatures hovering between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit), weather forecasters say.
A total of 56 wildfires have broken out in the past 24 hours in Greece, aided by a combination of dry weather, a heatwave and strong winds. Most were put out at an early stage, Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis said.
Nick Malpas relies on a three-wheeled mobility scooter to get around, and until recently he was happily catching buses in Hobart.
That stopped in July when he was told Tasmania’s public transport operator, Metro Tasmania, did not allow three-wheeled scooters on board, unless they were stowed in luggage racks, according to a policy that had been introduced more than six years ago.
Mr Malpas said he rang Metro about three years ago, before buying his scooter, to check it complied with the rules, and was told it did.
“I’ve been using the scooter for two-and-a-half years and it’s only just come up as an issue,” he said.
“I would have gotten a different scooter if I’d known about this … I wouldn’t have spent $3,000 on a scooter that I now can’t take on the bus.”
Hobart man Nick Malpas has been bringing his scooter on board for years now. (ABC News: Loretta Lohberger)
“In New South Wales you can’t take a three-wheeled scooter on a bus, but you can take it on the trains … and the trams,” Mr Malpas said.
“I think it’s particularly pressing that Metro Tas work out a way that all common mobility aids can be taken on buses since that’s our only [public] transport option [in Tasmania],” he said.
Mr Malpas said he could easily move around his neighbourhood, but not being able to catch the bus meant it was difficult for him to travel into central Hobart.
“It means that it’s very difficult for me to get into medical appointments, to go to government services, to go shopping if I need to get anything in the city, and it’s also just very socially isolating,” he said.
A Metro Tasmania spokesman said “three-wheeled mobility aids of any kind are unstable when on board and will not be carried because they are a safety risk to all passengers on board”, a rule that he said had been in place for more than six years.
New South Wales is the only other state that has a blanket ban on three-wheeled scooters on buses.
He wants to see a focus on making buses accessible.
“What we really need is some form of consistency throughout Australia and for Metro and the Department of State Growth … to get together to work out a way in which we can be consistent,” he said.
Dr Roslynne Bell, Associate Research Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne, will present the online lecture Warriors, Weapons, and Wild Women: The Amazons in Greek Art,on Thursday 5 August, at 7.00pm, as part of the Greek History and Culture Seminars, offered by the Greek Community of Melbourne.
Few mythological figures proved more fascinating to the ancient Greeks than the Amazons. In this talk we will look at some of the images that help us understand not only how this race of warrior women were thought to have lived and fought, but also how they challenged perceived norms of female behaviour in antiquity.
Dr Roslynne Bell is currently an Associate Research Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. Before this she taught a range of courses in Greek and Roman art and archaeology, first in the Classics department at the University of Canterbury, NZ, and more recently at the University of Manchester, UK, where she held a joint lectureship in the departments of Archaeology and Classics.
She’s also been an Honorary Academic Curator of the Greek and Roman Collections at the Manchester Museum, and a research fellow at the British School at Rome. Her research is largely in the field of Roman art and the topography of ancient Rome with her latest publication Image and Identity: Augustus and the Cult of the Magna Mater (Oxford University Press) coming out soon.
She also has a great love of Greek art, which began at the University of Canterbury where, for 11 years, she held the role of curator of the James Logie Memorial Collection of Classical Antiquities.
When: Thursday 5 August 2021, 7pm
Where: This is an online lecture and can be followed on Zoom, Facebook and Youtube
Six weeks ago, Simon Strum was exercising twice a week with a personal trainer and walking up to seven kilometres every other day.
Today, the father-of-one can’t get through his grocery shopping without sitting down to catch his breath.
“We thought we were bulletproof because we were fit, young and living in the best country in the world with low case numbers,” Mr Strum, 50, said.
“But the Delta variant … it’s a different ball game.
“If I had known how sick Covid would have made me and how it still impacts me, still unable to walk up hills, I would have been vaccinated a long time ago.”
Mr Strum and his partner, Rebecca Fatouros, 42, are examples of the increasing number of the under 50s with no underlying health conditions who are severely struck down with Covid-19.
Before Ms Fatouros was hospitalised twice last month with coronavirus, she was up at 5am every day for an hour’s exercise.
She was a “very clean” eater, a vegan of 10 years, a busy mum to three teenagers and lived an active lifestyle.
“That’s why I thought I am healthy, I look after my body, I’ll be fine,” she said.
“But when it hit me, I have never been so sick in my life.”
In one of the puzzling unknowns associated with COVID-19, Ms Fatouros tested negative five times, even when she was at St Vincent’s Hospital with sharp chest pains.
She was released and continued isolating at home.
Then she fainted and hit her head on the shower door. NSW Health insisted an ambulance take her to the Prince of Wales Hospital.
As the paramedics were taking her out the door, she received her sixth test results – positive.
“We were very complacent and really thought we were young, living in this naive world where we thought it wouldn‘t happen to us,” she said.
“When it hit my actual household, it was really quite scary because you don’t know how your body is going to react.
“A lot of people ask, is it like a bad flu? It’s like a bad flu gone radioactive.”
One of the strangest symptoms, Ms Fatouros said, was feeling like she was being kicked in the shins. For Mr Strum, it was losing his eyesight.
“There were aches and pains, sharp pains like someone putting a screwdriver in your joints and stabbing you,” he said.
“My eyes were so sore I couldn’t even open them. They were blurred and at the time you’re thinking, ‘is that vision going to come back’?”
