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Drug debacle mars Athens games launch
The curtain rises on the Athens Olympics on Friday but Greek pride was overwhelmed with embarrassment after their two most famous athletes faced expulsion from the Games over drugs.
Gold medal hero Costas Kenteris, the man tipped to light the Olympic flame in the opening ceremony, and fellow sprinting medallist Katerina Thanou were injured in a motorcycle crash shortly after missing drug tests.
The pair, who could face a two-year ban, were visited in hospital by Olympic officials who ordered them to appear at a disciplinary hearing on Friday afternoon just hours before the start of the Games.
"There will be an announcement from the hospital shortly as to whether their health will permit them to attend," said Manolis Kolimbadis of the Greek Olympic team.
"At this moment it is too early to say (if they'll compete). They have splinters in their arms and serious bruising on their legs. But they are in good health, they don't have any serious problems," he added.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was left in a state of confusion by the bewildering sequence of events.
One IOC member, requesting anonymity, told Reuters: "There is a great deal of confusion. We know there was an accident last night but people are wondering what actually happened. There is suspicion and confusion and disappointment."
"We don't know what to believe. A shadow has been cast over the whole thing."
The news hit Greece like a thunderbolt from the gods.
People burst into tears on hearing what happened as Greece was all set to take center stage with the launch of Athens 2004 before a television audience of billions around the world.
To some, it looked like hubris to the fiercely proud Greeks.
"Everyone was talking about how great it all is, how beautiful the city and the stadiums are and of course now this happens. It's like they've put a curse on us," said IT technician Manolis Kalatzis.
Morning television and radio shows discussed nothing but the overnight drama in tones ranging from the sympathetic to the paranoid.
Newspaper Ethnos called to the athletes on its front page to "Tell Us the Truth - you owe it to all Greeks to prove you are clean."
"GREECE LIGHTNING"
Kenteris, the only man to win the Olympic, world and European 200 meter titles, is a national hero in Greece but doping rumors, due in part to his rare appearances, have constantly dogged the sprinter known as "Greece Lightning."
His training partner Thanou grabbed her own Olympic headlines by finishing runner-up to Marion Jones in the women's 100 meters at the Sydney Olympics.
The pair were absent from the athletes' village when Olympic officials arrived on Thursday to conduct drugs tests. Greek officials blamed a mix-up over their non-appearance.
A missed drugs appointment is normally treated as a failed test and leads to immediate suspension from competition.
BITTER BLOW
The drama was a bitter blow for Greece, bombarded for years with criticism for construction chaos, budget overruns and security concerns.
The ability of this nation of 10 million people to stage the Olympics was constantly called into question.
But everything fell into place at the very last moment.
Organizers were widely praised for finally transforming Athens into a city fit to host the greatest sporting show on earth and welcome the Games back to their spiritual homeland.
Athenians gave the Olympic torch a tumultuous reception on Thursday night when the emotional symbol of sport's healing power reached the Acropolis after journeying across five continents.
Nine-times Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis handed the flame to Greek high jumper Niki Bakogianni, a silver medallist at Atlanta in 1996, who lit a cauldron amid the 2,500-year-old temples on the hill overlooking Athens.
Lewis had carried the torch, modeled like an olive leaf, to the steps of the Acropolis, cheered on by thousands of Athenians and tourists. Some waved small Greek flags.
"Tonight the flame illuminates the Acropolis, the ultimate symbol of Greece and Greek civilization," said Games chief organizer Gianna Angelopoulos.
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