Gianna gets IOC award
LAUSANNE, Switzerland – Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, chief organizer of the Athens Olympics, received an award yesterday for promoting the role of women in sport. Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, 49, was among those cited by the International Olympic Committee in a ceremony at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. «My congratulations to Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki for having given us the unforgettable Athens Games of 2004,» IOC President Jacques Rogge said, speaking to the guests by conference call. Angelopoulos-Daskalaki led Athens’s successful bid for the 2004 Olympics. Then, after three years of planning delays and political squabbling, she was brought back as the first woman to head an Olympic organizing committee. The August 13-29 Olympics, a major success, were labeled by Rogge at the closing ceremony as «unforgettable, dream Games.» Since then, Angelopoulos-Daskalaki has undergone treatment at Lausanne University Hospital amid Greek press reports that she suffered from exhaustion. She has made few appearances this year and has made no public comment on reports of health problems. On Saturday, Angelopoulos-Daskalaki was honored by Greece’s main opposition PASOK party during a party conference. At the ceremony, she described the Athens Games as the «most successful in history,» saying they offered Greece a «rare moment» of international acclaim. (AP)
