Just a week ago, Giannis had the honor of carrying Greece's flag during the opening ceremony, a remarkable journey considering he was stateless and faced numerous challenges in obtaining Greek citizenship until he was 19. He even changed his last name from Adetokunbo to Antetokounmpo to navigate bureaucratic hurdles.
"The day they told me and asked me if I'd be willing to represent the country and be the flag barrier, my first response was, 'I want my captain, Kostas Papanikolaou, to do it.' He had more national team appearances than me. But it was like, 'No, we want you to do it because you represent everything that sports represents: the way you carry yourself on the court and off the court; we love you to do it.'
"And, I said, great. It'd be an honor for me to do it. And when I did it, as I said, the biggest honor that I've ever done in my life," Giannis stressed.
"And I know that my father is watching from heaven, and he's dancing about this. It's something that might not happen again. I might win another [NBA] championship, I might win another MVP: who knows? But I might never carry the flag.
"So I tried those 45 minutes to soak it in as much as I could. Going through the Eiffel Tower, and it was raining. It made it even more dramatic. Seeing my mom from all of the family… It was a great experience, and I will never forget it in my life."
https://x.com/Urbodo/status/1819396053344383381
linking the author's twitter, i think the website the article is on gets caught by Auto Mod
by sewsgup
25 Comments
Common Giannis W
W
He’s so great for the game.
Very happy for Giannis. Could tell this really meant a lot to him.
Kinda surprised this was the biggest honor of his life though when he’s met me in person, but maybe he forgot.
Legacy points just keep adding up – Giannis is a gem!
If folks haven’t seen the Giannis documentary on Prime video, then I highly encourage you to watch it. It is one of the more touching stories you will see and it also shows how tight his family is and the struggles they went through just to be able to even come to the US.
Shout out to NBC for not letting us see it
Oh captain my captain
> He even changed his last name from Adetokunbo to Antetokounmpo to navigate bureaucratic hurdles.
wtfh
To go from immigrate hustling on the streets to a Olympic flag bearer for that country is a achievement most can’t even fathom how impossible that is yet he achieves it that’s literally some Hollywood script writing always happy seeing Gianni’s success his story is so incredible the odds he succeeded incredible rags to riches story
Flag bearer, flags do not make a good barrier.
I’m of Nigerian British background. I’m so so happy for him, and for all people of immigrant background in Greece.
I imagine it means a lot to plenty of people, especially considering the trouble that Golden Dawn and other fascists have given them over the years.
S/O Giannis for being a stud. I also wanna say tho Urbonas is one of the best international basketball podcasts I’ve ever seen. If y’all are tired of the Stephen a smiths of the world, check these dudes on YouTube
This is why Giannis is such a stand up guy and a great teammate and all the narratives online about him people make up because there’s nothing unlikable about him, he wanted his team captain to do it, even though Giannis himself is the better player and way more famous
I don’t think i’ve read anything bad or Giannis ever.
I was just in Greece and the amount of Giannis and bucks stuff I saw locals wearing was crazy
If you watch highlights from Giannis’ rookie year, you’ll hear the commentators trying to pronounce his original family name Adetokunbo. Even his draft express workout had his last name listed as that in the description.
Giannis is everything good about the game right now, especially on the international front.
Yeah yeah this is touching and all but remember when he was a jerk about a ladder? Not such a nice guy now huh?
Massive respect to Giannis for being willing to defer to the Greek national basketball team captain for carrying the Greek flag.
Couldn’t happen to a better guy, honestly.
I saw “Kostas” and assumed he was talking about his brother, and i was like, “He can’t keep getting away with it!”
He’s just a true saint, tho. He’s a real example to exemplify.
Greece gave him citizenship when they knew he was going to be rich.
I still chuckle at the story of him putting $250k in various bank accounts for security/insurance max before someone told him otherwise.
Wonder how many accounts he would.have gotten up to