24-year-old Alexandra Aristoteli from Brisbane is nervous yet excited as she prepares to represent Australia in the group Rhythmic Gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympics this Saturday.
In between training for the competition, Alexandra quickly sat down with The Greek Herald and tells us that she “couldn’t have asked for a better Olympic experience” so far.
“It has been absolutely amazing in the [Olympic] village. Getting to know so many other talented athletes has been so special. The atmosphere here is so wonderful…” Alexandra tells The Greek Herald exclusively.
“I am so excited, I absolutely cannot wait to go out with my team and perform the best we ever have.”
Alexandra started rhythmic gymnastics at the age of seven, after her mum began coaching her in ballet and acrobatics.
Since then, she decided to join the group variation of rhythmic gymnastics, which saw her team up and train with four other exceptional girls for over six years now. They are: Emily Abbot, Alannah Mathews, Felicity White and Himeka Onoda.
It’s this dynamic team which will now perform at the Tokyo Olympics after years of blood, sweat and tears.
“In 2018, my team and I competed at the world championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. This was our first stage of qualifying for the Olympics. From there we earned our Olympic spot by competing and winning at the Oceanic Championships in 2021,” Alexandra says.
Alexandra Aristoteli (centre).
Now, their goal is perform a flawless routine this weekend and make everyone who is supporting them proud.
“Our goal is to go out and have the best possible time and compete two perfect routines,” Alexandra concludes.
“It is so exciting to represent the Greek/Cypriot community in Australia. I cannot wait to go out and make everyone proud.”
Angela Christodoulou is a gift shop owner turned koala rescue and rehabilitation specialist.
Christodoulou started volunteering with the RSPCA in 2014 and says she rescued her first koala ‘Napoleon’ in August 2015.
“I enrolled in workshops with Wildcare Australia and continued to do my volunteer ambulance driving while studying to get my koala accreditation,” she tells the Guardian’s Jennifer Johnston.
“Once I had accreditation I volunteered in a RSPCA Wildlife Hospital, focusing solely on koala rescues.”
“Over four years I rescued 337 koalas and I went through two sets of tyres on my personal vehicle. Most rescues were on my own and it was exhausting.”
Christodoulou established Queensland Koala Society in August 2018 using the money set aside from the sale of her gift shop business.
“I am the head honcho, the main rescuer – the hands-on person. I cut the food for the koalas and look after the injured wildlife at our centre,” she says.
“When I receive a call out, I go to where the injured animal is and pick them up, then drive them to the vet who checks them over. If they recover, they are released back to where they come from. If they need rehabilitation, they come back to my place.”
“My husband and I still own our home, but in 2019 we used our “rainy day” money and purchased a two-and-a-half-acre property, specifically to rehabilitate wildlife,” she says.
“We have built enclosures on the property to house injured animals. And last year, I planted 300 eucalyptus trees from saplings, with seven varieties to feed the koalas.”
“The first weekend in July (this year) was my record for collecting koalas. I rescued seven in the space of 24 hours. Unfortunately, only one survived. I get sad when the survival rate is like that.”
NSW has recorded 291 new locally acquired COVID-19 infections in the 24 hours to 8:00 pm yesterday — the highest daily number in the state during the pandemic.
There were 109,547 tests carried out in the reporting period.
A woman in her 60s, who was not vaccinated, died after contracting the virus at Liverpool Hospital.
She is the state’s 79th COVID-19 fatality since the beginning of the pandemic and the 22nd death linked to the latest Delta outbreak.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian flagged rising cases in the Canterbury-Bankstown local government area, where policing will now be increased.
“We are seeing too many people frequent certain shopping areas and perhaps not doing the right thing, so police will be more present in the Canterbury-Bankstown local area to ensure compliance and we have to make sure that happens,” she said.
Rising cases also putting additional pressure on the health care system, which Chief Health Officer Dr. Kerry Chant said is currently “under stress”.
Victoria recorded 6 locally-acquired COVID-19 cases, while Queensland recorded 10 linked locally-acquired COVID-19 cases.
Year 12 students in Greater Sydney will sit assessments and trial HSC exams from home under a revised, more flexible, pandemic blueprint revealed by the NSW government.
The updated school’s plan outlines the circumstances under which some students will be able to return to classrooms in the COVID-hit state from August 16.
Under the new model, updated COVID-19 safety plans will see schools balance their physical space and timetabling to reduce mixing between students and support physical distancing.
Only small groups of students will gather at any one time with clear guidelines to be provided to schools.
Students who live or attend school in the local government areas (LGAs) of Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Campbelltown, Liverpool, Parramatta, Blacktown, Georges River, and Cumberland will not return to classrooms on August 16.
However, schools in those eight LGAs of concern are being asked to prepare for the return of pupils in the coming weeks, once they have been vaccinated.
Year 12 students from the LGA’s of concern will be able to attend a special vaccination hub at Sydney Olympic Park from August 9.
Teresa Polias, W-League games record-holder and Sydney FC captain, has announced her indefinite break from football.
Polias has played in seven grand finals and led Sydney FC to five of the past 6 deciders and says she’s enjoyed her run.
“I love playing football and I love playing and representing Sydney FC,” Polias said in a statement.
“But I feel now is the right time to take a break and concentrate on starting a family.”
(Right: via The Leader)
Polias says she’s putting football on hold to be a mother.
“This is such an exciting time in our family’s lives and I am looking forward to becoming a mother and enjoying that time.”
Polias has clarified the move as a break rather than retirement.
“I’m not retiring from football, but I want to take this moment to experience and dedicate my life to others after 13 fabulous years playing this game,” she said.
“When the time is right, I’ll make a decision on my playing future.”
Polias has made 157 W-League appearances, including winning two championships and two premierships, and has made 12 appearances for the Matildas, including at the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
She started her W-League career at Central Coast in 2008, playing two seasons for the Mariners before joining Sydney FC.
Polias became the Sky Blues’ first 10-year W-League player last year and has played 145 W-League games for Sydney, including a record 18 finals appearances.
The late Professor Alexander Cambitoglou AO has left a bequest of approximately $6 million to his founding Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens (AAIA) facility at the University of Sydney (USYD).
Dr Stavros Paspalas is the director of the AAIA and says his long-time friend and colleague has left his mark on the field of Greek and Mediterranean studies.
“Professor Cambitoglou was one of the most influential figures to have shaped the study of Classical antiquity in Australia,” Paspalas says.
“The bequest upholds his vision for the Institute to promote Greek and Mediterranean studies in Australia.”
Professor Alexander Cambitoglou AO is an antiquities collector and pioneer who was born in Thessaloniki in 1922 and died in Sydney aged 97 in 2019.
Cambitoglou taught at USYD from 1961 through to 1989, curated the Nicholson Museum from 1963 until 2000, and established the AAIA in 1980.
The AAIA has allowed Australia to have its own academic representation in Greece for the first time and has since been a major force in the growth of Australian participation in Greek archaeology.
Paspalas says the bequest continues “the AAIA’s 40 year history of encouraging Australia’s involvement with Greek culture”.
“He firmly believed that a global approach to the subject was needed and aimed to bring the findings of his discipline both to Australian students and the wider public.
“Through sheer dedication and hard work he created a legacy that ensures that Greek studies will thrive in Australia, so bringing his two ’homelands’ together.”
Professor Cambitoglou also donated his collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, from furniture and art, to USYD’s Chau Chak Wing Museum (CCWM).
His collection includes works by Georges Braque, Edgar Degas, Marc Chagall, Russell Drysdale and Brett Whiteley.
“The Nicholson Collection benefitted over four decades from Professor Cambitoglou’s generosity, expertise, and earnest belief in the importance of artefacts to teaching,” CCWM director Dr Paul Donnelly says.
“His influence as an inspiring teacher continues to add to the collection with the recent acquisition (through donated funds in his honour) of a 6th century BCE black-figure amphora made in Athens.”
A comparative study on the Greek island of Santorini by a team of scientists from among others, the University of Oxford and University of London, revealed that when the sea level falls more than 40 metres below the present-day level, a volcanic eruption is triggered.
The team observed the activity of the volcano and compared it with the sea levels recorded over the past 360,000 years. The team also found that when the sea level is higher, the volcano becomes quiet.
Santorini, a beautiful island in the southern Aegean Sea, is the remnant of a volcanic caldera. The island, part of an archipelago, was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history – the Minoan eruption that occurred around 3,600 years ago.
Although it is now a water-filled caldera (a hollow which occurs when a volcano erupts and then collapses), Santorini is still the most active volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc.
With varying degrees of explosivity, Santorini has erupted many times. According to Sputnik, there have been at least 12 large explosive eruptions, of which around four were caldera-forming.
Santorini volcano.
Historians suggest that the entire volcano used to be above water, but a violent eruption around 1600 BC caused the volcano to cave in partially and led to the formation of a lagoon.
To understand the effect sea levels have on volcanic eruptions, the team designed a computer-simulated version of Santorini’s magma chamber. It sits about 4km beneath the volcano’s surface.
Inside the simulation, the crust above the magma chamber fragmented whenever the sea level dropped at least 40 metres below.
“That allows the magma that’s stored under the volcano to move up through these fractures and make its way to the surface,” study co-author Christopher Satow, a physical geographer at Oxford Brookes University in England, said.
The magma chamber’s simulation collected data that suggested that it should take about 13,000 years for the cracks to reach the surface and awaken the volcano.
Wildfires have reignited north of Athens as emergency service crews work around the clock across Greece.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has blamed the nation’s wildfires on climate change as temperatures continue to soar to a 30-year high of above 40 degrees Celsius.
“If there are even few people who have reservations about whether climate change is real, I call on them to come here and see,” Mitsotakis said from Ilia, where the flames had threatened the World Heritage Site of Ancient Olympia.
“We are dealing with unprecedented conditions as many days of heatwave have turned the whole country into a powder keg,” Mitsotakis said in a televised address.
Wildfires surround the World Heritage Site of Ancient Olympia (Left:Giannis Spyrounis/ilialive.gr via AP) (Right: Reuters)
Ancient Olympia in the western Peloponnese narrowly dodged a wildfire overnight following the area’s mass evacuation and firefighting response.
Blazes have reignited over the Athens-Thessaloniki motorway and spread to five nearby suburbs and the Malakasa refugee camp.
The suburbs stretch no more than 45 kilometers north of the country’s capital and include Afidnes, Kryoneri, Kokkinovrahos, Ippokratios Politia, and Drosopigi.
More than 160 firefighters, three planes, three helicopters, five ground teams and 57 vehicles swooped south to the island of Evia on Tuesday.
Evacuations have carried out in dozens of towns and villages and houses have been destroyed.
More than 150 wildfires have burned thousands of acres of forest land across Greece since Tuesday.
Greek scientists say the total destruction in just three days this month in Greece exceeded 50 per cent of the average area burned in the country in previous years.
An Athens Observatory report says an estimated 6,000 hectares went up in smoke between Sunday and Wednesday, compared to 10,400 hectares in the whole of 2020.
The fires have not caused any deaths or serious injuries and while the cause of the wildfires remain unclear, authorities say human error and carelessness are most frequently to blame.
The situation in Greece has prompted international assistance from France, Sweden, and Romania.
The Greek Community of Melbourne in collaboration with White Ribbon Australia are proud and honoured to present a seminar on domestic violence awareness and prevention in Australia.
The keynote speaker of this seminar is public figure and domestic violence victim/ survivor, Ms. Simone O’Brien.
Simone’s journey started in 2012 when she suffered a horrific domestic violence attack at the hands of a perpetrator who would not take “no” for an answer. It started with emotional and psychological abuse, including telling lies, stealing money and insults. And it ended with her being beaten with a baseball bat to within inches of her life. Since then, Simone uses her personal story to show enormous determination, resilience, courage and strength.
“I want to champion non-violence against women and children. Together, let us stop domestic violence,” Simone states.
Simone actively raises awareness about domestic violence prevention with organisations such as AFL clubs, Australia’s CEO Challenge, and the Police.
In addition, Simone is a proud patron of several organisations including BeyondDV, Rizeup Australia, Australia say NO MORE, and Good360 Australia.
“We are very proud to be collaborating with White Ribbon Australia on this seminar. We thank Simone for sharing her journey with us and importantly offering us advice on how we can be part of the prevention as individuals, as an organisation and as a community,” Ms. Tammy Iliou, Vice-President of the GCM, stated.
“The GCM will continue to raise awareness on domestic violence and hopes for further collaboration with White Ribbon Australia. In addition, I would like to thank Ms. Penny Marangos, who is a Victorian Committee Board Member with White Ribbon Australia, for approaching the GCM and initiating our partnership.”
You can attend this free event that will be held on the 24th of August, 7pm at the Delphi Bank Mezz. Please register your attendance via Try booking. The event will be concurrently live streaming via social media.
Zoe Grigoris is an Adelaide based contemporary jeweller and artist. Her work is feminine and romantic and plays on ideas of daydreams, nostalgia and themes inspired by childhood memories and travels to Greece.
In between working in her studio space in Adelaide’s CBD and her visits to the JamFactory where she presents her first solo exhibition in this year’s South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival, Zoe sat down with The Greek Herald to discuss how she brings her heritage in her art and why creation is important in a fast-fashion and trend-led world.
Q: Zoe, tell us a bit about your Greek heritage and how it inspires your work?
A: Mum was born in Athens; her family are from the Peloponnese and Dad’s family are from Sparta. When I visited Greece, I was inspired by the artists I met while travelling – their work was really different to what I’d been taught at University, they had a more playful approach to technique which is something I’ve tried to bring into my own practice.
My work is inspired by nostalgia and memory, and growing up I loved playing with Yiayia’s jewellery box. I remember she had a pearl necklace that was strung together like lace, which inspired the technique I used to make my Springtime Necklace in my current exhibition.
Photo R: Jeweller and artist Zoe Grigoris and Photo L: Zoe’s Sprintime Necklace
Q: When did you first realise you wanted to pursue a career as a jeweller?
A: I always wanted to work in the arts, I studied Drama at Flinders Uni before moving into Jewellery. I was drawn to the intimate nature of jewellery and the attention to fine detail – But it was when I started JamFactory’s associate training program that I realised I wanted to focus on building my career as a contemporary jeweller.
Q: What it is like being a jeweller in a fast-fashion and trend-led world?
A: I love fashion and feel inspired by well-made, creative design but I don’t pay too much attention to the whims of fast fashion. I’ve learnt the beauty of creating work that is timeless and doesn’t follow trends. I also feel a responsibility to produce pieces that can be passed down through generations and loved despite the ever-changing trends.
Q: What do you want people to feel when wearing your jewellery?
A: My work is very whimsical, so I hope they feel a sense of wonder and given that my pieces are often gifted or commissioned to commemorate a special moment, I hope that people attach their own memories to their unique piece.
Q: What is the most treasured item you have created so far and what makes it special?
A: I’ve made so many special pieces – but I think the engagement rings I’ve made for close friends have been the most treasured, especially the ones that were surprises.
Wedding rings created by Zoe Grigoris. Photo: Instagram/zoegrigoris
Q: You are currently presenting your first solo exhibition named ‘Social Medea’ what does it include?
A: I’ve made a collection of jewellery and wall-pieces which are accompanied by a short film by Steph Daughtry. Each piece is hand-made with my unique pattern.
The exhibition was inspired by the nostalgic ideals associated with jewellery and the way memory slips and transforms, it feels very magical and romantic.
Q: What is your advice to younger people who would like to follow in your footsteps?
A: I really believe in practice makes (almost) perfect, so if you have an affinity for art then continue to push your creative and technical skills and build your own aesthetic as an artist – sometimes you have to make a bunch of terrible things to reach something you’re really proud of.
To find out more about the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival visit: www.salafestival.com
For many children the last two years with Covid restrictions have been challenging. Same for many parents and teachers.
It is difficult enough with one child at home let alone two or three or even more. High school students are somewhat easier to handle during the Lockdown as they are used to learning online by now and can do their work independently.
However, primary school aged children, especially lower primary children can be quite challenged as they cannot concentrate for long periods of time and especially in a Zoom class.
Most teachers have a very orderly Zoom classroom but the participation, or at least, the support from parents at home is absolutely necessary for young students.Most schools have a set number of hours with many ‘screen breaks’ in between for younger students.
Parents need to be aware that a ‘screen break’ means no watching TV or playing computer games during that time, to give children’s eyes a break from the screen. Otherwise, when they join the class after their break they are unsettled and tired.
Having healthy snacks and keeping to a normal routine is also very important.
Some after school activities, like ballet classes are still provided online by some very resourceful teachers. Many Community Language classes such as Greek are also running online in the afternoons or on Saturday mornings.
It is a good idea to continue with these classes so that your child does not lose touch with their fellow students, their teacher and their friends.
Many younger students need parental support to sit through and manage an online learning lesson, especially in Greek. Dedicated parents around Australia are giving up their own activities and time because they want their children to succeed in the language.
Next week is the last week this column will run and I give some good pointers to use with your children during lockdown.
*Eleni Elefterias-Kostakidis is a teacher of Modern Greek and University lecturer.
Read Eleni Elefterias’ column ‘Insight or Perspective’ in Greek, every Saturday in The Greek Herald’s print edition or get your subscription here.
