Greece and the Olympics. Torch-bearers

After winning Euro 2004, the Greeks look forward to the Olympics

IT WAS a fairy-tale ending that Greeks could scarcely have dreamt of. Their team arrived at Euro 2004 in Portugal as rank 80-1 outsiders. Winning the championship marked a success without parallel in Greece's recent sporting history. Over 200,000 delirious fans turned out to give their team a heroes' welcome, overflowing the stadium built for the first modern Olympics in 1896. With Athens preparing to host the Olympics again in only five weeks' time, the victory could not have been better timed. Costas Karamanlis, the prime minister, called it “the best possible invitation to the games.” The feel-good factor may make Greeks more confident of making a success of the Olympics. They might even improve on their 13-medal haul from Sydney in 2000.

Preparations for the 17-day Olympics have been fraught with anxiety. Missed deadlines for stadiums and transport projects, and worries about the Greeks' ability to handle security, have made the International Olympic Committee (IOC) wonder if small countries should ever host the Olympics. Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, has said that future games should be awarded only to cities that already have most infrastructure in place.

Greece's €4.6 billion ($5.6 billion) government budget for the Olympics is likely to overshoot by at least €1.5 billion. The security budget tripled after September 11th. Political infighting delayed decision-making, sending costs soaring. Inefficient tendering gave contractors a chance to squeeze more money out by foot-dragging. But the pace picked up when Mr Karamanlis's centre-right New Democracy party ousted the Socialists after last March's elections. Co-operation between the government and Athoc, the games' organising body, improved. Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the Athoc boss, is a former New Democracy MP with an open line to Mr Karamanlis, who has taken overall ministerial responsibility for the Olympics.

With the 35 sports venues more-or-less complete, security arrangements are now the biggest headache. Sensibly, Mr Karamanlis adopted a plan from his Socialist predecessors under which Greece's NATO partners will provide AWACS aircraft to monitor Greek airspace, plus ships to patrol in the Adriatic and Aegean. A committee of foreign security advisers includes Americans, Britons and Israelis. An American company has a contract to co-ordinate security at more than 100 Olympic sites. But it is behind schedule in installing equipment and in training operators. With less electronic protection, the onus will fall more heavily on Greece's 70,000 police, soldiers and emergency workers.

Faced with traffic restrictions and a ban on summer holidays for civil servants and bank staff, to say nothing of the burden on taxpayers, many Athenians already wonder if it was all worthwhile. Ticket sales have been slow, though the average price is lower than at Sydney. American tourists are staying away for fear of terrorist attacks, say travel agents. Yet Athens will be a better place after the games. As Mrs Daskalaki points out, Greece has built 20 years' worth of new infrastructure in one go. The stadiums, mostly clustered in low-income neighbourhoods and around the old airport, will become leisure centres that, she hopes, might encourage the young to excel at sport. New highways, a suburban train and a tram system should reduce traffic jams and pollution. And pedestrian walkways around the city's classical monuments will add to their appeal. The main sports complex, with roofs and public spaces designed by Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish architect, should become a tourist attraction in its own right.

Corporate sponsors and the IOC are still holding their breath. Even if things go well, a glitch-free games seems unlikely. But if Mr Karamanlis is right and the Greeks' achievement in Portugal triggers a last-minute wave of Olympic visitors, a shinier, more self-confident Athens could become a trendy European city - even if the price will have been high.

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