Cover-up

Greece's president praised Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou for dissolving "a conspiracy of silence" by reporting a historic allegation of sexual assault by a sports official.

Bekatorou, who won a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, told the Greek edition of Marie Claire last month that she had suffered the abuse in 1998 when she was 21.

Those who deal with politics know all too well that, judging from international experience, cover-ups are often far more disastrous than revealing the truth.

Government and local officials first tried to convince us that the way they handled the fire was flawless.