“I didn’t chew with their gutter, I chewed them, they wanted to see me collapse”
Ioannis Melissanidis was a guest on ERT’s “Studio 4” show, who spoke about the… attack he received from journalists in the second Olympic Games, who took part.
“There was all this shame back then with the kiss, with the coach. All this vulgar homophobic attack that had taken place. While I was competing and I think there has never been such an attack in Greece orchestrated live during the Olympic Games on an athlete. I was injured, I had 5 herniated discs in my lower back and I landed on one leg. Instead of saying what a dude this athlete is, they started saying this drain. Of course I didn’t chew, I chewed them” he said in an intense tone Ioannis Melissanidis then describing what he heard and read.
“If it happened now, half of them would have gone to prison. Imagine if they appeared on the news and said what they said. Then the President of the Republic, Mr. Stephanopoulos, wonderful, when we went back to the Presidential Palace and it was the group photo, I had gone further back and I didn’t want to. He sent one of his associates and said that the photo will come out with Ioannis and that I should go next to him” said Ioannis Melissanidis and explained:
“They didn’t affect me. The problem is theirs, not mine. They made me even tougher and stronger. With all this I could have killed myself from the balcony, as other children have driven to suicide. I answered with the second Olympic distinction. It’s obscene. To be a child wearing the coat of arms of Greece and orchestrated Greek journalists… They have the psychiatric problem. I’m not going to get into their logic. They wanted to see me break down, cry, hurt and have people feel sorry for you.”
In closing, he pointed out: “When you punch me, I’m not going to Christianly turn my cheek. You’ll cuff me, you’ll punch me. So, that’s my character. I am not going to bow my head and weep at your attack. I cried at my father’s death and was emotional on the podium… Most people apologized.”
