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One year countdown to Olympics begins in full moon
Athens, Aug 13: Bathed by the good-omen glow of a full moon over the famed Acropolis, Athens on Wednesday started the one-year countdown to the return of the Olympic Games to their birthplace.
Athens, Aug 13: Bathed by the good-omen glow of a full moon over the famed Acropolis, Athens on Wednesday started the one-year countdown to the return of the Olympic Games to their birthplace.
Athens organisers go into the final 366 days -- 2004 is a leap year -- confident preparations are back on track after criticism of a slow start.
''There is a full moon tonight. That is a very good omen,'' said security guard Antonis Kasrotis as he watched the city's Olympic clock near the main games stadium tick to ''366'' at midnight (2100 GMT on Tuesday). ''The Olympics are coming home. I've waited all my life for this.''
Although International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Athens officials have said the worst is behind them, a major Greek newspaper warned on the eve of the countdown the country risked global ''humiliation'' without swift and drastic changes.
Athens Olympics President Gianna Angelopoulos told reporters that Greece -- the smallest nation to host an Olympics since Finland in 1952 -- had pulled off a ''miracle'' in getting ready after losing nearly two years through infighting.
IOC member Anita Defrantz, a former US Olympic rower who has been involved in the games since competing in Montreal in 1976, said while inspecting venues that Greece would get it right on the night.
''They are exactly where they should be one year before the games,'' she told reporters.
But Greece's respected Kathimerini newspaper said in an editorial that blunders during test events last week, when rowers from Britain and the US went under water because of strong winds and the German team withdrew with food poisoning, should ''ring alarm bells and mobilise Athens 2004''.
Bureau Report
Athens organisers go into the final 366 days -- 2004 is a leap year -- confident preparations are back on track after criticism of a slow start.
''There is a full moon tonight. That is a very good omen,'' said security guard Antonis Kasrotis as he watched the city's Olympic clock near the main games stadium tick to ''366'' at midnight (2100 GMT on Tuesday). ''The Olympics are coming home. I've waited all my life for this.''
Although International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Athens officials have said the worst is behind them, a major Greek newspaper warned on the eve of the countdown the country risked global ''humiliation'' without swift and drastic changes.
Athens Olympics President Gianna Angelopoulos told reporters that Greece -- the smallest nation to host an Olympics since Finland in 1952 -- had pulled off a ''miracle'' in getting ready after losing nearly two years through infighting.
IOC member Anita Defrantz, a former US Olympic rower who has been involved in the games since competing in Montreal in 1976, said while inspecting venues that Greece would get it right on the night.
''They are exactly where they should be one year before the games,'' she told reporters.
But Greece's respected Kathimerini newspaper said in an editorial that blunders during test events last week, when rowers from Britain and the US went under water because of strong winds and the German team withdrew with food poisoning, should ''ring alarm bells and mobilise Athens 2004''.
Bureau Report