Giannis Antetokounmpo - why I feel proud

There is an amazing young man making waves in the NBA world over the last few years.  He is called Giannis Antetokounmpo (is that really the way he should be spelling his surname?) and though he originally hails from Africa (Nigeria) he grew up in Greece, now holds a Greek passport and identifies as Greek. Some of his brothers appear to be more or less as talented, and the young Antetokounmpos are shaking the basketball world to its core.

First of all I would like to apologise on behalf of all Greeks for forcing these talented young people not only to struggle, together with their parents, for a significant period of time, but also for making them spell their family name in a most peculiar way - this is the way that the Greek state seeks to latinise all names without reference to sense of any sort. Their family struggled to survive and, while individual Greeks helped them in their struggle, the state was largely indifferent until they started reaching their amazing individual achievements on the world's basketball courts.

So how dare I, a complete bystander, claim pride in the achievements of these singular boys, and Giannis' in particular? Everything they have done has been down to their talent, their efforts and the sacrifices that they, their family and those close to them made - where do I come in?

You misunderstand me, as my pride is not in Giannis' (or his siblings) achievements, significant though they may be. None of us looking on from a distance had a hand in these, even if we want to stake a claim - we would be ridiculous if we tried. No, what makes me proud is that this kind young giant, this superbly talented young black man from Nigeria, identifies himself as Greek and, indeed, is proud to be thought of as the 'Greek Freak'. He is now successful, rich and famous and could choose to identify with any part of this world, yet he appreciates something that my country of birth gave him, enough to feel Greek - it makes me immensely proud.

When I see programs on the telly, when Giannis seeks out souvlaki somewhere in North America to feel at home, when I see him promoting his feeling of Greekness my chest swells. His achievements are his own, for sure, but I am grateful for the love he has shown for our little patch of dirt that is modern Greece - with all its problems - and it feels me with pride.

Long may the Antetokounmpo boys, and Giannis in particular, reign. I will feel proud for the love they display towards my - and now their - unimportant little country, a country that offered them solace, perhaps not initially generously but just enough, a strange country that is struggling to accept Greeks when they are not successful, never mind non-white Greeks. Well done Gianni, well done the whole Antetokounmpo clan, thank you for making us understand that feeling Greek can be a state of mind, independent of colour or anything else, thank you for wanting to be Greek.