Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Poland soccer fans will hope that Citta the elephant keeps her track record of getting all her predictions wrong for European Championship matches.
The wrinkled 33-year-old pachyderm on Friday chose a melon marked with a draw between Poland and Czech Republic for the final Group A match on Saturday. If her prediction comes true,Poland would be eliminated from the tournament because the co-host nation needs to win to advance to the quarterfinals.
Citta got her first two predictions wrong. She guessed Poland would win its first two matches,both of which ended in 1-1 ties.
The elephant,who lives at the Krakow Zoo,was given a choice Friday of three melons – each one placed above an image of either the Polish or Czech flag or an ‘X’ representing a draw.
She first pointed her trunk toward Poland,moved it toward Czech Republic,letting it linger a bit before she reconsidered and seized on the melon representing a tie.
Well the Polish flag and the Czech flag are very similar – I don’t know,maybe she didn’t want to make the mistake and decided the draw will be the safe score, zookeeper Jerzy Pirog said.
Citta is one of several pretenders to a throne vacated by Paul the Octopus,who won fame by correctly predicting eight matches at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Other wannabes include a pig and ferret in Ukraine and a cow in Germany. None,however,have Paul’s clairvoyance.
Zoo director Jozef Skotnicki has confessed that zoo officials looked for a psychic animal in part to gain a little attention for the city during the tournament,which is being played in four other Polish cities as well as four Ukrainian cities.
