Giannis Antetokounmpo Becomes First Black Greek Olympic Flagbearer

Greek basketball sensation Giannis Antetokounmpo will be the first Black athlete to carry Greece’s flag at the Olympics.

The two time NB, MVP will join race walker Antigoni Ntrismpioti in carrying the flag for Greece in Paris on 26 July.

The Greek men’s basketball crew qualified for the Olympics for the primary time seeing that 2008 by means of defeating Croatia in the front in their domestic crowd in Piraeus ultimate Sunday.

The 29 yr vintage player who became pick out up via the Milwaukee Bucks in 2013 and guided them to the NBA championship in 2021 was emotional and in tears after the fit.

It’s an awesome feeling he said after qualifying. Since I was a kid I’ve always dreamed of gambling within the Olympic Games. Becoming Greece’s Olympic flagbearer has been a tough adventure for him.

Giannis Antetokounmpo parents moved from Nigeria to Greece. He couldn’t leave Greece or get any official papers until he became a Greek citizen in May 2013 shortly before the NBA draft.

I spent much of my youth away from home doing everything I could to support my parents. I sold watches glasses CDs, DVDs whatever I could get my hands on. It was a necessity. I had no other option. During those years I became known as the top seller.

Despite becoming a star in the US Giannis Antetokounmpo still faced racism in his own country.

In a TNT documentary in 2020 he mentioned In Greece. Where most people are white life can be tough for someone like me because of my skin color or nationality. In many neighborhoods racism is a real issue.

Some people in Greece including Konstantinos Kalemis who worked with refugee education criticized Giannis Antetokounmpo’s comments using offensive language. Kalemis was later fire up because of this.

Government officials have also discriminated against him. In 2018, Adonis Georgiadis who is now the health minister repeatedly say his name wrong and wrongly said he was born in Africa instead of Greece.

Giannis Antetokounmpo will be among the first athletes to start the Games because Greece. Where the Olympics began usually goes first in the parade.

Spyros Kapralos president of the Greek Olympic Committee said everyone agreed that Giannis Antetokounmpo should carry the flag in Paris. He also said both flagbearers will make our country proud.