A glimmer of hope

"This is the only thing that we can do. This is the only thing we are good at," Greece's Ekaterini Stefanidi told state broadcaster ERT right after she had won the gold in the women's pole vault at the European Championships in Berlin on Thursday.

Stefanidi's victory will not bring back the dead, nor undo the material damage and the disaster inflicted upon the environment in the devastating wildfires that ravaged eastern Attica on July 23. But, well, an athlete can offer a moment of exaltation, evoke a smile of emotion on our face, a smile that is a little bit more solid perhaps than other, ephemeral smiles.

"We can only hope to offer some joy to the people [affected]," said Stefanidi and Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou, who won the silver medal for Greece in the same event.

More Greek athletes have excelled in the past few days, generating some hope that tomorrow...