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do not remember means actually I have not suffered. I
have not suffered: I have not learned. I have not
learned: I have not lived.
"Pain is an ordeal," says the Greek national poet Dionyssios Solomos. And
through this ordeal one will both try and suffer.
For one last time, let's have a look around us, at this place and at its ordeal.
We gave you a trial and we have suffered too, despite the shortness of the time
we spent together. Hence comes the turn of your memory, and of ours, to be
tested for its quality.
A beloved schoolmaster legacy I had at school left us with the following:
To behave like a good man is easy and in one's interest. To do well is difficult.
To forgive shows one's gentleness and kindness. To ask for forgiveness shows
one's bravery.
To love is equal to a passive beauty. Not to hate is an active struggle.
To blame others for having compromised is fashionable enough; to refuse to
compromise with yourself proves that you are truly unyielding.
I urge you to hold this legacy in the depths of your heart, in order to better
yourselves and to serve correctly the society you are living in and the ideals of the
Olympic Movement.
In this difficult and emotional moment, with sentiments so contradictory, as joy
will soon give its place to sorrow, we have travelled into the past few days and we
will continue to travel together as long as we keep this memory alive.
There is nothing else to say, I think, but the verse of another great Greek poet,
Odysseas Elytis (Nobel Prize for literature):
A stiffening of the soul and not a word more
There is nothing more to say. One last look at each other and farewell to the
eyes glistening with a tear.
Thank you for your presence, your friendship and affection. Farewell and
happy landings back home.
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