Olympics build up poised at the start line

The run-up to this year's summer Olympic Games will officially begin on Thursday with white-robed priestesses lighting the Olympic flame at the ancient Temple of Hera in Olympia.

But when the flame returns to Greece after a five-month journey around the globe it will come to rest not in peaceful Olympia but in the hustle and bustle of Athens.

Although the Olympics is going back to its country of birth, the link will be not so much with the first games of 2700 years ago but with the modern Olympic movement, which was reborn in Athens in 1896.

Focal point for Athens 2004 will be the beautiful Panathinaikon Stadium deep in the sprawling capital of Greece. Built for the 1896 games on the site of an ancient stadium, it was created for the launching of the modern Olympic era and witnessed Greece's greatest triumph of those games.

Appropriately it was a Greek shepherd, Spyros Louis, who entered the stadium first in 1896 to win what is probably the event most associated with Greece, the marathon.

Then, as now, the course was over the original route said to have been followed by Phidippides, who died from his exertions after running 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to deliver the news of victory over the Persians. But the spectators who crowd into the Panathinaikon this August to watch this year's marathon - and all the other athletic events - will be able to enjoy a revamped stadium.

Much of the beautiful marble seating has been retained but the new stadium will have a vaulted ceiling and vastly improved facilities.

It, like much of the rest of Athens, has been subjected to a hectic and controversial refurbishing involving not just sports facilities but Athens Airport, the public transport system, roading network, hotels and public buildings.

Work is still going on at a frantic pace to try to get everything completed on time and arguments continue over how well - or badly - Athens will cope with it all.

With less than five months to go fewer than half the venues have been completed, major transport and infrastructure is delayed and both the set-piece stadium roof and marathon route are in serious doubt.

At the same stage in Sydney, all venues were completed and organisers were busy planting flowers.

Conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who swept to power in elections two weeks ago, was worried enough at the delays to take personal charge of all Games preparations.

The American-educated lawyer has taken the helm of the Culture Ministry - the Cabinet post with responsibility for all Olympic projects - in a bid to cut through the red tape that has tied up work for years.

What is up and running is the official website which offers just about everything you could want to know about the games.

Plenty of tickets are still available but by all accounts accommodation is filling up fast.

Ticket sales have evidently been hurt by security fears - for example, more than half the respondents in a recent US poll said they would avoid the Olympics for fear of terrorism - so in the past few days the Greek Government has launched a vast security operation designed to protect the games.

However, that in itself has created problems, with demonstrations threatened over the involvement of United States troops in the security effort.

Altogether the combination of ancient history and modern politics looks like making this one of the most intriguing Olympics yet.

Olympia

Olympia is six hours from Athens by inter-city train via Pyrgos or five hours by bus and costs 19 euros (NZ$35).

Cost

Entry to the site and the museum costs 9 euros (NZ$17).

Accommodation

The small tourist town of Olympia is a 10-minute walk from the stadium site and has camping grounds, a youth hostel, guest houses and hotels.

A twin room in a hotel with a pool costs around 125 to 150 euros (NZ$230-270) depending on the season.

Olympic Games

The Summer Olympics will be held in Athens on August 13-29 and the Paralympic Games on September 17-28. Tickets for most events are still available.

Greek travel website