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A news about vicious comments of the German press regarding the gold medal of the Greek gymnast Vlasis Maras awakened the discontent of the Greek media in recent days. Some even argue that the political conflict between the two countries have already passed in the field of sport as well...

The basis of the conflict was an article in the German newspaper "Bild", which says that the gold medal of the Greek athlete in horizontal bar from the European championship in artistic gymnastics for men in Birmingham should have gone into the hands of the German Philipp Boy. "Bild" arguments are based on the actual statements of Boy himself, who claimed that an expert in the particular discipline and an employee of the German Gymnastics Federation has revealed before him that he was the one who had to take the gold medal. German gymnast also reveals that later in the hotel where he was accommodated again an expert has announced to him that he is the real winner. The article also claims that Greece was aware of the fact that the Maras will be the winner of the championship. As an argument serves the fact that the marks of Boy came out late, and just before it was announced representatives of Greece were making signs with their fingers...

Greek newspaper "Vima" commented the thesis of the "Bild" as scenarios taken from science fiction. Argues that this is another attempt to "defame" everything related to the country and to transfer the negative comments from the political to the sports level.

 
What are the reviews of Dimitris Raftis, the coach of Vlasis Maras? In an interview with the Greek newspaper he commented on what happened as follows: “For the bad luck of the Germans sport is not a bank and when you win something nobody can take it back from you”.  Raftis states for the newspaper that the gold medal of Maras definitely did not make the Germans happy and destroyed their plans. At the finals they had two athletes on the high bar - Fabian Hambüchen and Philipp Boy and they were very much hoping for gold. As far as it goes to the marks of the Greek gymnast, Raftis says that it is lower than what he deserved.

According to the newspaper “Vima” there was a Greek-German struggle even in the floor exercise in gymnastics. In this discipline the young Greek athlete Levteris Kosmidis took second place after the German Matthias Fahrig. “They treated Levteris unjustly. He had to be first, because he had a wonderful presentation. However, they gave the gold medal to the German” – shares for the newspaper Dimitris Raftis without hiding his disappointment.