The picture from the balcony of the Belgrade City Assembly, not only of basketball players but of all athletes, was in the spirit of the famous sentence of basketball coach Svetislav Pešić "All for one, one for all!", with which captain Bogdan Bogdanović, together with his teammates, ended his speech and greeted the audience. Damir Mikec and Zorana Arunović, gold medalists in archery at the Olympics, said that the gold medal belongs to everyone and that they felt the support of the audience from Serbia even in Paris. Aleksandra Perišić, the golden girl with silver shine, as she was called, came out with tears in her eyes and greeted the audience, who greeted her with applause and said that she did not disappoint their expectations. With the song "Return of the written off" the "written off" dolphins came out on the balcony and showed how to win gold and believe in success when everyone doubts. At the very end, with huge applause and exclamations, Djokovic came out and told the audience, which always surprises him, that "...this is the most beautiful thing that an athlete can experience". The smell of fireworks and torches, the performance of the song "Veseli se srpski rode" by Danica Crnogorčević, accompanied by the Olympians on the balcony and an enthusiastic audience, signaled the end of the welcome. However, at the very end, the audience expressed opposition to lithium mining in Jadra and the arrival of the Rio Tinto company - the "Serbian race" chanted "Rio Tinto march from Serbia".
The turning points, the questioning and the celebration after the victory are the souvenirs that our Olympians will remember. The most important thing is gold, the captain of the water polo national team, Nikola Jakšić, told Vreme. "That was definitely the most important thing. Also the moment when we beat the Greeks, I think that was the turning point. After that moment, no one doubted whether we would win the gold or not."
The words that Djokovic addressed to our national team in water polo will remain a secret, but as Jakšić says, they helped them quite a bit in their quest for gold: "We were definitely additionally motivated by the game of our basketball players when they played against the Americans, which was also seen in the fact that we beat them won by four points. In the end, it's how we came back that matters, not how we left."
On the way to the gold, they had the representatives of Greece and America in front of them. It seems that they have timed their form for the knockout stage, as he explains, which was not the intention, but the most important thing is certainly the games won. That they kept their strength is shown by the games and the fourth place in the group for the passage to the knockout phase.
"In the end, we can say that we timed that group, just to get through and win the most important three games later," concludes Jakšić.
Luka Jovanović, who had the opportunity to watch the basketball games and the key match of Novak Djokovic, talks about the atmosphere from the stands at the Olympic Games for "Vreme".
"Being in the audience at the Olympic Games is an incredible experience. Big city, top organization and mass of people. The atmosphere at our matches was better than the others I watched live, because there was cheering most of the time, even though according to the protocol we had to sit", says Luka Jovanović for "Vreme" and adds that the crowd was mostly cultured, and although tension felt on the fields, there were no incidents.
During the match between Djokovic and Alcaraz, there were a couple of throws that the referee silenced. All visitors to the Olympic Games are admirers and enjoyers of sports, and they showed how they behave and cheer their country during the games. "The strongest impression left on me was Novak Djokovic's match when he won the gold, which is the only one left for him to win in his career," concludes Jovanović.
In addition to the ovation for the national team, chants against Rio Tinto were also heard at the end. This was followed by the arrest of three Kreni-Promeni activists who were holding the banner "You will not dig". They were released a few hours later, with the explanation that the banner was not in keeping with the event. After chanting, journalists were denied statements, which is why - it will remain unclear. On the streets in front of the Old Court, plastic bottles, discarded banners and some flags were left that were proudly waved at the reception, but also at the protests against Rio Tinto that marked last week.
