Standing alone in the VIP box of the Olympic Games in 2004, Gianna Angelopoulos began to dance. The world had doubted Greece's ability to successfully stage this global event. She danced to celebrate the efforts of all Greeks--and her own--to host a phenomenally successful games, an effort that showed the world a new Greece, a Greece worthy of its illustrious heritage.
Little did she know that a few years later her country would abandon the lessons of the Olympics and become embroiled in a political and economic crisis that would devastate Greece, and threaten the economic security of Europe.
In My Greek Drama, Gianna Angelopoulos--known in her home country simply as ''Gianna''--has written a memoir that is as much about Greece's journey as her own.
From her childhood in Crete, to law school in Thessaloniki, to Athens, where she overcame male-dominated legal and political cultures to help redefine public service in Greece, Gianna worked her way into becoming one of the most respected women in Greek public life.
Balancing motherhood, business, and a place in the upper echelons of world society, Gianna never lost her passion for public service and brought the 2004 Olympic Games back from the brink of catastrophe to what was later called an ''unforgettable dream games.''
Her life, her Cinderella love story, and her intensity of will are equally unforgettable. From stories of handing out basil seeds on the streets of Athens to entertaining royalty and political leaders in London, Zurich, and Athens, My Greek Drama captures the burning ambition of the rebellious girl from the island of Crete who ''lit'' the Olympic torch. Her story should help rekindle the spirit of the Greek people, and of every person who has ever struggled to change the world.
作者簡介
Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki is an Olympic organizer, ambassador of the Greek state, lawyer, and former parliamentarian. In 1986, Ambassador Angelopoulos-Daskalaki was elected to the Athens Municipal Council. In 1989, she was elected to parliament, and won reelection the following year.
Following her marriage to Theodore Angelopoulos, Gianna resigned her seat in the Parliament to focus on family and business.
In 1996, the prime minister of Greece appointed her to lead the country's successful campaign to host the 2004 Olympic Games. In 2000, when slow progress and gridlocked bureaucracy put Athens in danger of losing the Games, she was asked to assume the presidency of the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee and save the project.
Today, Ambassador Angelopoulos-Daskalaki serves as vice-chairman of the Dean's Council of Harvard s Kennedy School of Government and is a supporter of the Clinton Global Initiative, a leading philanthropist for projects in Greece and around the globe, and a proud parent of three grown children.
