Halkia wins gold in hurdles, : Interview

Greece is the word at Olympic track and field. Every night, the stands are full, the blue and white Greek flags are waving, and last night, Fani Halkia had them in hysterics over her powerful victory in the women's 400-meter hurdles.

Olympics officials originally had put capacity of the refurbished stadium at 72,000, but now have downgraded that to 60,000. Either way, the place is alive with attentive, boisterous fans. And Halkia's rush to gold -- Greece's sixth gold medal in these Games -- had the place really hopping.

The noise and national passion was not unlike Cathy Freeman's 400-meter triumph before her home crowd in Sydney four years ago. Halkia, like Freeman, entered the race as a slight favorite; Halkia had set an Olympic record of 52.77 seconds in the event's semifinal round.

And, with a country on her back, she managed to run lightly. She won in 52.82, never threatened by silver medalist Ionela Tirlea-Manolache of Romania or bronze medalist Tetiana Tereshchuk-Antipova.

"I'm very satisfied," said Halkia, who is only 5-9 and 141 pounds but figuratively huge now. "I think that the Greek soul is so great that it can carry an athlete to victory. I dedicate this victory to the Greek people and to my coach."

Immediately after the race, Halkia knelt in front of coach Giorgos Panagiotopoulos and did one of those salaams.

INTERVIEW WITH HALKIA

Comments from Fani HALKIA (GRE), Olympic champion in the Women's 400m Hurdles at a press conference.
 
On whether she believed she could win:
 
"What happened today was wonderful.  It was great and yes I did believe it.  Back in the Olympic Village Voula (PATOULIDOU, 100m gold medallist at Barcelona 1992) told me that I could do it and it would be wonderful.  What happened in the venue is beyond words.  It was like an earthquake.  That gave me incredible energy."
 
On whether she's ever worked with Christos TZEKOS:
 
"No, we have never worked together.  My coach trained with Mr TZEKOS as an athlete, for a while, but he's been training with plenty of coaches, not just Mr TZEKOS."
 
On the future:
 
"Well, nothing stops.  Everything actually starts now.  When you train, you think that the best you can do is the gold medal in the Olympics.  Now that I got it I think that the next step is to repeat it."
 
On doping issues:
 
"I'm a journalist and I can understand the importance of exclusiveness... What I can say on doping is that no Greek athlete needs illegal help, just his Greek soul to go on.  We gave our civilisation all over the world, but we cannot borrow or give away our Greek soul.  That's either something you are born with or not."
 
"We shouldn't create the wrong impressions, a few unfortunate cases are not the reality, but that's what the media want and that affects the rest of the athletes.  And in regards to KEDERIS and THANOU, they have been executed based on speculation."
 
On how hard it is to be an athlete:
 
"Very difficult, I had to stop for two years.  I've been between several jobs, just to get going.  When you love something, you find a way.  My family was there and in the face of my trainer, Yorgos PANAGIOTOPOULOS, I found a mentor I was looking for, to start over."
 
"When I announced to a reporter that I'm starting again, he laughed at me and believe me, he wasn't the only one."
 
On bowing to her trainer during the lap of honour:
 
"I bowed at his feet because he's the only person that believed in me.  He created me with patience and soul."