View Full Version : The Greek Olympics
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Let the Greek comedy begin
April 13, 2004
Worriers cite terrorists, construction delays, traffic chaos and other credible megaproblems as potential obstacles for the summer Olympics. But if the gargantuan Athens Games go down the tubes, it might just be on account of the little things.
Let's address the prosaic matter of plumbing. Greece is unlike northern Europe, North America and Australia in many, often charming ways. That's why it remains one of the world's top tourist destinations. But not all of those ways are quite so endearing. For example, while most of the developed world flushes toilet tissue away, in Greece it is typically placed in a waste receptacle next to the toilet.
That unintentionally ecological approach, however, will be a surprise to many visitors, if a recent unscientific inspection is any indication. Although warnings are not unknown — one restaurant has posted a sign depicting a grimacing toilet and the admonition "Do not place Papper in the Toilette" — most establishments seem not to have considered this potential disaster, with just four months and counting before the opening ceremonies.
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2004/04/13/13n_cycle,0.jpg
Work on the velodrome, pictured, is running on time but the roof on the nearby Olympic stadium faces serious construction delays.
That means millions and millions of ill-advised flushes and untold consequences to Athens' ancient pipes, which, if not as old as the Acropolis itself, are still badly in need of modernisation. How this will play out, especially given the frequency with which Americans and other prodigal consumers already clog more modern equipment, is one big unknown.
Another is the ability of the electricity grid to handle huge numbers of gadget-happy visitors, along with the air-conditioning pressures of an August which, thanks to global warming, is becoming even hotter and wetter.
These sorts of potential peripheral disasters only compound the challenges facing the event. Although many impressive sporting facilities, a new airport and spacious highways have been built, much effort has gone into cosmetic projects which have a propaganda value: exhibits, signs, depictions of the ancient games. As a result, work has been completed on fewer than half of the competition facilities, a topic frequently discussed in the Greek media.
Greeks are famous for procrastinating and then rushing frantically at the last minute, says Costis Chlouverakis, a physician and writer. "The Olympics were announced in 1997, but they didn't do anything for years. Of course they are not ready."
Take the subway. It was started in the 1980s but is still far from completed, with only three lines of limited range now operating — a joke circulating on the internet shows the Greeks half-ready for the 2004 games and the Chinese already prepared for 2008. Even the Athens city website remains under construction.
But organisers hope Athens' problems won't rival those of the 1996 Atlanta Games, which were marred not only by a bombing in a city park that killed one and injured dozens, but also by considerable organisational flaws, including problems moving spectators and athletes between venues.
The International Olympic Committee authorities are understandably concerned. Recently, the head of the IOC suggested that the Greeks stop worrying about beautifying the city — a tough task under any conditions — and concentrate on completing the big construction and transportation projects. These include the marathon road (the contractor declared bankruptcy), the blue glass dome over the Olympic stadium (designed by Catalan architect Santiago Calatrava), a rail link from the airport to the northern suburbs, a tram system, and numerous highway interchanges and overpasses.
Greece's Olympic organising committee recently abandoned efforts to put a roof over the swim arena. And now, we hear that Athens' main Olympic stadium will not be finished before July 20, just weeks before the opening ceremony.
The biggest projects were contracted to internationally respected companies, but many of these subcontracted the work to politically connected Greek companies, many of whom use underpaid and sometimes inexperienced immigrant labour. In some cases, they have been caught using substandard materials. One hundred and ten workers have died so far in accidents.
Predictably, there has been a huge cost blowout, with Greek taxpayers facing a bill 16-50 per cent higher than the initial 4.6 billion euro ($A7.3 billion) estimate.
Even the glittering new German-designed airport shut down in February after a modest amount of unexpected snow, stranding passengers overnight in the terminal. It remained closed until the following day, when the snow melted. "If they have a problem with 5cm of snow, can you imagine what kind of problems they will face with the Olympics?" asks Stefan Spielbit, a Singapore-based, German businessman.
Outside the Olympic venues, the city seems an odd mix of frenetic remodelling and indifference. A week spent walking and driving through disparate parts of Athens revealed the kind of chaos and lacksadaisical fix-it projects that have long characterised the city. Many hotel and restaurant proprietors appear to have only recently realised the profit potential of 1.4 million visitors. For every stylish new venue that has opened, there are dozens of properties where work appears in the early stages.
Some roads appear to be getting their first facelift in 150 years, unearthing past construction indiscretions. Controversy erupted when a woman walking in the Plaka area near the Acropolis noticed the words "Dearly Beloved" on unsettled paving stones. Apparently, in the past 100 years or so, old tombstones have been used to pave the streets.
An initial visit to an excavated fifth-century street in the heart of the Plaka found the pavement littered with dog droppings. Five days later, these prominent canine contributions to the city's ambience remained undisturbed.
Indeed, Athens' ubiquitous homeless dogs roam free virtually everywhere, sometimes wandering in packs through the chaotic traffic. Animal welfare groups claim there are as many as 15,000 in the city centre and have come up with a novel way to save the thousands of strays, which could fall victim to efforts to clean up the streets.
Activists have launched a mass evacuation campaign, transporting the mutts by plane, train, truck and bus to new homes around Europe.
Most are thought to be domestic pets abandoned by their owners. Trying to lead by example, the mayor of Athens, Dora Bakoyannis, recently adopted two of the animals.
Security concerns are clearly paramount, but the Athens media recently highlighted difficulties that a large US contractor, SAIC, is having integrating the security and surveillance systems intended to guard the Olympics. Sources familiar with the situation say that the integration and therefore the security will remain, at best, partial.
If Athens is not quite ready for the Olympics, the people of Athens certainly are — ready to evacuate, that is. Athenians, who never need much excuse to escape their overcrowded, foliage-deficient city for the beauty and tranquillity of the Greek islands, may not stick around to enjoy this latest incarnation of the quadrennial sporting spectacle that their ancestors created.
"We're all leaving a month before the games and returning a month after," says Michalis Papayiannakis, a Synaspismos (radical left) member of the European Parliament.
Not everyone plans to skip town, of course. When authorities announced openings for 42,000 Olympics volunteers, 160,000 people applied, many of them Greeks. Even so, one local skeptic warned: "Check how many actually show up. Greeks are not volunteers. We have an expression, ‘You can get free cheese only in the mousetrap'."
Despite all the problems, it's too early to write off the Athens Olympics as a disaster in the making. For all their tendencies to procrastinate, the worrybead-twirling Greeks can be resourceful in a pinch. For the World Athletic Championship in 1997, authorities envisioned a soothing display of greenery outside the airport to welcome arriving tourists. But trucked-in pine trees were not planted; half died in the parching heat and the rest were apparently taken home by airport staff.
With one month remaining before the event, staff frantically began sowing flowers and watering them with great diligence. What the crowds saw on their arrival was a beautiful garden that looked like it had been there forever.
"You see," says one typically philosophical Athenian. "We're magicians here."
- with The Sunday Telegraph
This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/12/1081621893216.html
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Greek Island travel (http://www.greektravel.com/greekislands/)
Postcards (http://www.greekisland.co.uk/)
Athens 2004 (http://www.athens2004.com/athens2004/page/nochildren?cid=f288470429149f00VgnVCMServer28130b0 aRCRD&lang=en)
Handy Harry
05-05-2004, 17:15
Editorial: Olympic spirit burning bright
May 05, 2004
WITH 100 days to go, the first event of the Athens Olympics is already under way - doomsaying. People wonder whether all the venues will be ready.
They worry that the city's transport system will buckle under the strain of athletes and visitors. And they ask whether Greece could stop a terror attack before it happened. Fair questions all, but there is only one answer for Greece and the world - the Games must and will go ahead in glory.
Perhaps some of the stadiums might not have the finish of the facilities in Sydney, but the Greeks will surely deliver arenas that allow all the athletes to do their best. And we cannot even contemplate the idea of the Games being halted by terrorism. For this to happen would be an incalculable defeat in the war on terror, encouraging mass killers for all causes to even bolder atrocities.
Which is why the Greeks will deploy over 50,000 troops and police and NATO will provide air and sea cover to protect the Games.
But there is no denying that getting Athens ready will be a near run thing. Only 24 of 38 venues are complete and the main stadium still lacks a roof. But at least it is scheduled to get one. The plans for the swim centre have gone from a roof to a tarp to fresh air. Neither the marathon route nor the soccer facility are finished. With 100 days to go it is all a little too close for comfort for some Greeks, including the new Prime Minister, Costas Karamanlis, who has taken on personal responsibility for the Games. While he is at it, Mr Karamanlis might want to end the ridiculous policy that requires Greek security to accompany the Olympic torch on the Australian leg of its journey to Athens. We did not lose it last time and surely can be trusted again.
Athen's biggest perception problem is that it is inevitably being compared to Sydney's achievement in producing the best games ever. But even in 2000 there was a fair bit of luck involved. While all the facilities functioned superbly, everybody will remember that slight wobble as the cauldron that fuelled the Olympic flame faltered ever so slightly during the opening ceremony. And Sydneysiders are still amazed that the city's ramshackle rail system held together throughout the Games.
But the major lesson that Sydney taught is that while flash facilities matter, what makes a great games is the spirit of the people involved.
And here the omens for Athens are very good.
Some 160,000 people, including 4500 Australians, have volunteered to work for free to make the Athens Games a success. This is more than twice the number that applied in Sydney. With 100 days to go, the Olympic spirit is already burning bright in Athens.
The Australian (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9472827%5E7583,00.html)
Seabiscuit
05-05-2004, 19:38
I reckon Athens will stage a great Olympics and it will be the best Olympics ever (or perhaps 2nd best). The Greeks have a spiritual connection to the Olympics and the history of the Olympic games goes back thousands of years.
Greece really is THE place to hold the olymics due to its historical connection and the fact that it has some of the happiest people outside of Australia.
I certainly hope that the Greek Olympics are a huge success.
There are many that would hope to see it fail to some extent (including smug Sydney siders who dont want the best olympics mantle taken away from them)..not to mention Al Quada.
The world waits with baited breath to see if they can pull this off. The latest bomb wont help things along...people may choose to stay way this year...and the Greeks notorious attitudes to getting things done properly and on time wont help them when it comes to crunch time.
None of the people I know who had visited Athens had a good word to say about the place -- notice I say Athens, not Greece in general. I would be happy to be proven wrong but events so far haven't really given us any reason for optimism.
Handy Harry
19-05-2004, 16:34
Tents are cool for swimmers
By Jacquelin Magnay
Lausanne
May 19, 2004
Swimmers at the Athens Olympics will now have air-conditioned tents to protect them from the fierce summer heat when the Games start in mid-August, after the temporary roof was scrapped earlier this year because of construction delays.
But as a concession to television coverage of the sport, and to avoid shadowing on the now exposed pool surface, the swimming finals have been moved back 30 minutes to 7.30pm. Australians on the east coast will have to set their watches for 2.30am to watch the live action.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/18/1084783512748.html
Handy Harry
20-05-2004, 09:37
20/05/2004 08:08 AM Karolos Grohmann
A small unexploded bomb has been found outside a British car dealership in southern Athens, a police spokeswoman says, in the latest attack in the run-up to the Olympic Games in August.
It was the third attack in the capital in two weeks and an embarrassment for security authorities who had just unveiled German remote-controlled bomb disposal robots designed to handle just such objects.
The device was found on Wednesday a few hundred metres (yards) from the seaside Hellenikon Sports Complex, the second largest Olympic venue after the main Olympic Stadium, where seven sports -- basketball, baseball, softball, handball, hockey, fencing and kayaking -- will take place.
Police detonated the home-made device "of minor power", placed in a box under a car at a Land Rover dealership, the spokeswoman said, adding the motive for the attack was unknown.
She said the device had no similarity with three makeshift bombs that exploded outside a police station two weeks ago.
http://xtramsn.co.nz/sport/0,,3954-3361078,00.html
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/06/05/front_compositetorch0506,0.jpg
Can we get the pictures to work on this section?
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/22/1087844924121.html?oneclick=true
Games on TV...full on!
Seabiscuit
22-06-2004, 18:21
Hopefully there will be some decent liquidity on Betfair for some of the events.
Channel 7 are likely to be completely Aussie focused in their coverage and will prefer to show some no hoper Aussie coming 37th in the 10km walk than show a showcase event going on at the same time.
Agree...and not enough of the good stuff like the 3 day eventing and the dressage which is what I am interested in more than anything else.
Seabiscuit
22-06-2004, 19:52
They will probably show the 3 day event as Australia has won it the last few years and so is likely to have a decent show again. As for dressage - forget it
cheesebeast
11-07-2004, 15:42
Marion Jones fails to qualify for the 100m after running 5th in the US Olympic trials - must be harder to run so quick without the juice. ;) ;)
Seabiscuit
11-07-2004, 17:39
They should make it like American racing and just allow them to use the drugs (like Lasix).
cheesebeast
14-07-2004, 00:02
Marion Jones places 7th in the preliminary qualifying for the long jump, this is the event she was supposed to have her best chance of qualifying for as the competition was thin and she's running 7th! Unbelievable! And to think I used to lust after her! She's a phony.......
cheesebeast
14-07-2004, 00:05
Maurice Greene is 2-90 on BF to win the mens' 100m sprint - looks a big price to me barring injury he seems to be the man with the best medical team at the moment. :D :D :D
Handy Harry
18-07-2004, 18:55
http://www.horsemagazine.com/CLINIC/S/salzgeber_ulla/ullaathome.html
Time for all you dressage fans to brush up on your theory before the Olympics
Handy Harry
23-07-2004, 08:37
It's a familiar scene in these litigious days: an athlete close to Olympic standard facing the Court of Arbitration for Sport to argue why he, not a rival, should be selected for Athens. Only this time the plaintiff is a horse.
Mr Burns goes to court on Monday to appeal against his omission from the Australian squad. But the horse knows all about torrid battles.
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/07/22/horse_wideweb__430x286.jpg
Having been taken to the knackery several years ago, the now 13-year-old thoroughbred has leapt within sight of an Athens berth, pending the outcome of the appeal by his rider, Andrew Inglis.
Inglis and Mr Burns claimed first place at a three-star event in Vichy, France, last weekend, raising hopes they may displace the rider Tim Amitrano and showjumper Mr Innocent after Monday's hearing.
Regardless of the outcome, Mr Burns - named after Phillip Burns, the owner of the pet food company to whom the horse was initially sold - remains one of Australia's more remarkable "athletes".
"My husband was driving the truck and we saw Burnsy go through the ring, looking old and badly wounded," said Cathy Chapman, co-owner of Mr Burns with husband, Greg. "He got to the knackery and thought 'this is a big horse'. We wanted him for a riding horse, but we ended up getting a few poles out to see if he could jump. We took it from there."
Now valued at $500,000 to $750,000, Mr Burns was sold for $350 at the knackery door.
Phillip Burns explains: "I owed Greg [Chapman] a few dollars on cartage, anyway, so we just agreed he would take [Mr Burns]. I thought [$350] was too much at the time."
Cathy Chapman, Inglis and Mr Burns are training in San Patrignano, Italy, for another event this weekend. But Inglis fears that, regardless of the court result, the Olympics may be out of reach.
Jeff Evans, chief selector with the Equestrian Federation of Australia, said Amitrano and Mr Innocent were named as Australia's sole jumping combination for the Athens Games because Inglis and Mr Burns had failed to compete at four- and five-star events.
"There wasn't much in it, probably 1 per cent," Evans said. "But the one thing Andrew didn't do through the lead-up [to selection] was get out of his comfort zone."
Inglis criticised the selection process. "They make decisions without being at events, hearing the information second-hand."
http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/articles/2004/07/22/1090464800300.html
cheesebeast
29-07-2004, 08:42
Bush begins his speech to open the Olympic Games. He looks at his paper and says:"Oooooo! Oooooo! Ooooo! Ooooo! Ooooo!"
An aide comes over and whispers:"Mr President, these are the Olympic rings. Your speech is below."
Efficiency seems to be the hardest word
By Jacquelin Magnay
August 3, 2004
First impressions of the Athens Olympic Games is that these are the Sorry Games.
Sorry, the bus is late, it will be here in five minutes. An hour later the operational manager of the airport transport was still promising the arrival of the buses, scheduled every 15 minutes, "in five minutes".
Sorry, the bus service doesn't start until 8 o'clock, but you can wait in the bus until then.
Sorry, there are no drinks available at the village, but there are chips, shampoo, lovely T-shirts and other souvenirs you can buy.
Sorry, can you queue on the side of the road? With only two security screens in place, and only one operational, the laborious process of checking luggage, computers, tape recorders, cameras and other electronic equipment into the village takes another hour.
The Games have 70,000 security personnel, but at this early stage it appears the security at the main press centre - where 10,000 journalists will operate - consists of an inadequate four checkpoints. This limitation is exacerbated when security officials make everybody take off jewellery, watches, rings, sometimes shoes, glasses. Sorry, even underwire bras set off the metal detectors.
With less than two weeks to the opening ceremony, the famed last-minute ability of the Greeks will be severely tested. But the hosts have mastered one aspect perfectly, that of saying sorry so very nicely.
August 4, 2004 - 11:47AM
Greece's Olympic Games organisers have apologised and launched an investigation into allegations that a Mexican television crew was beaten by guards after they attempted to film outside the Olympic Games port of Piraeus.
The two Televisa Mexico crew and one translator said today they were pushed into an unmarked car by three security officers as they tried to film outside the port that would host Olympic cruise ships for the August 13-29 Games.
They said they were taken to a police gymnasium and beaten.
"We strongly regret what happened yesterday," Games spokesman Michael Zaharatos told reporters, while not confirming any of the details given by the Mexicans.
"A formal investigation has been launched and should there be a need for disciplinary action against the officers it will be taken immediately.
"This incident will not be repeated," he said.
Piraeus, adjoining Athens and Europe's biggest passenger port where seven luxury lines including the world's biggest cruise ship - the Queen Mary II - will dock to act as floating hotels, is one of the most secure Olympic locations.
By Richard Macey
August 10, 2004
Those hoping Australia will snare more than a dozen gold medals at the Athens Olympics should brace themselves to be let down.
That's the warning of mathematician Stephen Clarke, head of sports statistics at Melbourne's Swinburne University. Dr Clarke, who won a PhD for work tipping football and cricket results, says the loss of the "home advantage" enjoyed in Sydney will have a bigger impact than many realise.
In June the Australia Olympic Committee's director of sport, Craig Phillips, said Australia was on target for 50 medals - 14 gold, 20 silver and 16 bronze.
The Australian Sports Commission estimates Australia may win 46 medals - 14 gold, 18 silver and 14 bronze. Both predictions are well short of the 58 medals - 16 gold, 25 silver and 17 bronze - won at the Sydney Games.
But Dr Clarke believes Australia will only bag about 40 medals in Athens, and just 10 will be gold.
The national haul will also include 14 silver and 16 bronze. His calculations are not based on Jana Pittman's knee, nor the fitness of the swimming team.
"I have looked at how Australia went in every Olympics, and particularly how nations have gone in the Games after the ones they hosted," he said yesterday.
In his study, Forecasting Australia's Olympic performance: Australia to suffer post host letdown in Athens, he found "countries were on average 63 per cent as successful in the Games following those they hosted". In 1960, for example, Australia won 22 Olympic medals, compared with 34 in Melbourne in 1956.
However he noted that 40 medals would still be close to Australia's best performance at an "away Olympics" - 41 at the 1996 Atlanta Games. And 10 gold would exceed Australia's best result at an away Olympics, passing the nine gold won in Atlanta.
Dr Clarke, who tipped Australia would win 60 medals, including at least 17 gold, in Sydney, said Australia's medal tally was relatively gold-poor.
Gold accounted for a "lowly 23 per cent" of our medals from the past seven Olympics.
To beat its Sydney 2000 medal haul "Australia would have to wait for another home Games".
Full text http://www.swin.edu.au/sport/ (http://www.swin.edu.au/sport/)
Fire and water feature in ceremony
August 11, 2004 - 8:34PM
A flaming comet is set to crash into the centre of a flooded stadium, with the Olympic rings ablaze in a giant lake at the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics on Friday night.
Organisers say water - the birthplace of all humanity - will be a constant motif throughout the three and a half hour ceremony showcasing Greece to the world.
More than 70,000 Greeks watched in awe at a dress rehearsal on Tuesday night which doubled as a test for Athens' transport and security services.
The ceremony will have all the usual features - the Olympic rings, a tribute to the athletes and thousands of colourful costumes but this ceremony is expected to swamp the imagination.
"It will delight and captivate a global audience and will surprise them too," said Athens organising committee president Gianna Angelopoulos Daskalaki.
smh
Seabiscuit
12-08-2004, 11:17
Water - now what could the Greeks be using water for in the opening ceremony? My guess is perhaps a recreation of scenes out of the Odyssey of Homer with Odysseus sailing all around the place with Sirens, Scylla & Charybdis and Circe etc. But it could also be a recreation of the battle of Salamis as per the Roman emperors of days of old when they recreated major sea battles in the arena.
I suspect there will be some recreation of Homer's Iliad or Odyssey or both (Achilles, Hector, Troy, Trojan horse etc).
They might even squeeze in the battle of Marathon from which the marathon comes but that could offend middle Eastern sensibilities so the Persian Wars might not get a look in. It would be nice though.
Alexander the Great will he get a start? More Persian bashing. What fun.
There will probably be some recreation of the Ancient Olympics of course. Perhaps they can rebuild the temple of Zeus
The thing about Greece is there is a heap of material for them to use up to 300BC but not much afterwards.
Forget Sydney. That was four years ago. It's time to move on.
Behind the scenes, under the sun-bleached blue sky of Athens, there is a massive security effort ever watchful for a possible terrorist attack. The Australian embassy has just moved into new premises deemed more secure, its offices officially opened this week by Sports Minister Rod Kemp, in town for the Games. But, on the streets of Athens, concerns about personal security seem to have faded under the summer heat.
The Athens Games is emerging as the first Games of the new, more modest era -- the first summer Games under the International Olympic Committee presidency of no-nonsense Jacques Rogge, an orthopedic surgeon from Belgium.
The 2004 Games may not be deemed the best Games ever, as Rogge's predecessor, Juan Antonio Samaranch, declared four years ago in Sydney. But the Greeks, who normally leave their capital in droves to escape the August heat, look set to pull off an Olympics in their own style.
Foreign tourists -- and even droves of sponsors and other traditional Olympic attendees -- may be staying away. Hotel prices have been cut, tickets are unsold. The organisers now talk of their "economic goal" as how much revenue they will make from ticket sales, preferring to shift the focus from total ticket sales.
Olympic veterans note that this Olympic city is a lot quieter than in previous Games -- partly due to the shadow of international terrorism, which has already badly affected tourism in recent years.
But the Games will go on and over the next 17 days billions of TV viewers will see a spectacular Olympics set in modern venues against historical backdrops.
"It has come together very well," says Australia's senior IOC member Kevan Gosper. "So many of the doubts of the past few months have just faded away."
Gosper believes Athens will be similar to the hot, sexy and very laid-back style of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, also on the Mediterranean Sea.
"If you want to make any comparisons, it is more like Barcelona than anything I have ever seen," he says. "I wouldn't compare it with Sydney -- the city had its own stamp."
Australian athletes are being warned not to expect Rolls-Royce service and reminded that Greece, with its population of just over 10 million people, is the smallest country in recent times to host an Olympics.
The Australian flag waving that accompanies an Olympics began in earnest on Wednesday night as an emotional Beashel waved the flag he will carry tonight, to the cheers of the Australian Olympic team.
On the sporting field, the 482-strong Australian team is a record for a Games outside Australia and compares to Greece's record number of 441 athletes. The Australians will be trying to buck the trend of previous Olympic host countries, which tend to have a slump in performance in the following Games. Australian athletes will compete in every Olympic sport except handball.
Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates says the goal for Australia is to finish fifth in the medal count. The US, Russia and China are expected to take out the first three rankings in the medal tally.
While the total medals will inevitably be lower than in Sydney, where a record number of athletes performed before a home crowd, the question is whether Australia can maintain fourth place.
Authoritative US magazine Sports Illustrated is predicting that Australia will retain its fourth place ranking but will pull in only 50 medals (19 gold, 12 silver and 19 bronze) compared with the record 58 four years ago.
With so many athletes retiring after the Sydney Games, the present Australian team has a larger than usual percentage of first-time Olympians. Coates told athletes at the team celebration this week that they were "on the brink of a wonderful adventure". "A new chapter in Australian Olympic history is about to begin," he declared, reminding his team that the Athens tradition dates back to the days of Edwin Flack. Flack, the first Australian to compete in an Olympics, won the 800 and 1500 metres and led the marathon for most of the way in the 1896 Athens Games. "The Games have come home," Coates said. "History beckons."
Before the main competition begins, Australia is winning the public relations race in Athens, with daily press briefings. All other teams have taken a lower profile. Ian Thorpe, sporting a pre-Games beard, has become the public face of Australia.
At the press conference for the Australian swimming team this week, there was standing room only. As one Australian team official noted, the Australian swim team have become one of the star attractions, similar to the American "Dream Team" basketballers in previous Games.
As preparations come together, the atmosphere in Athens has lightened. In one Australian press conference, discussion extended to whether comic duo Roy and HG would really present their program from Athens in the nude, as they have threatened.
As the Games finally get under way, the Greeks may be exceeding expectations, which had been severely lowered. But there is still a long way to go. The venues look good, but the true test of 16 days of elite level sport is yet to come. "We shouldn't say too much until the closing ceremony," Gosper warns.
Seabiscuit
13-08-2004, 18:45
My prediction is that Athens will be responsible for a great games. Better than Atlanta and Barcelona anyway.
I hope so Seabikkies. Might be a nice week to get sick and stay in bed to watch the games. Here is the program guide for channel 7 Sydney. Have you tried the new strepsil flavours yet?
http://www.seven.com.au/seven/olympics_daybyday
The Score...latest updates for Olympic events and horse racing etc. (http://www.thescore.com.au/)
;) :p ;)
Seabiscuit
13-08-2004, 20:10
No I have not tried the blackcurrant Strepsils yet. Will buy some tomorrow.
But I have been looking at some of these swimming markets. I will be looking to lay Thorpey if he shows any vulnerability in his heats as the young man seems to have passed his peak. But he still might be good enough to win an event or two so I will hold back a bit.
I have made my first play however. In the 100m Freestyle for Men I have decided to take on the Dutchman Hoogie who won last time. 4 years is a long time. Hoogie was ranked No 1 in the World in 2003 but is only ranked No 6 so far in 2004. He could have been prepping himself for the Olympics and is now ready to show his best but I suspect he is more likely to be on the downhill run. So I have laid him on BF at his current quote in the 2.20s.
I have backed the nice Mr Schoeman at $17 from South Africa with a bookie to win the 100 Freestyle. He was ranked No 3 in 2003 and is currently ranked No 2 in 2004. I don't think he will win it and is more likely to run a place. But he does look some sort of value at $17 based on the rankings.
The FINA website has all the rankings for the swimmers for the current year and a link to another website that has all the rankings for the previous years.
I will base the rest of my bets on what I see with my old eyes. But I thought I would get stuck into Hoogie early as I am predicting he will be the flop of the games in the pool.
Seabiscuit
16-08-2004, 06:16
Talk about win one lose one. The Schoe lived up to my expectations to lead South Africa to a great 4x100m relay victory. He has now more than halved his quote for the 100m freestyle. But sadly Hoogie has done some amazing swim and is now into 1.70 even on BF.
South Africa must have been a squillion to one in the relay. I did not realise the Schoe had so many fast friends. Sorry I missed out on that bet.
Dream Team gets whipped
August 16, 2004 - 7:54AM
Puerto Rico have beaten the United States 'Dream Team' basketballers 92-73 in Athens in one of the biggest shocks in the history of the Olympic Games.
NBA superstars Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and LeBron James were humiliated by a team they had beaten 96-71 just over two weeks ago in Florida.
It was the first defeat in 25 games for the United States since NBA talent including Michael Jordan began playing for them in Olympic competition at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/08/16/1092508316896.html?oneclick=true
They are showing some of the 3 day event dressage today on the television. I thought Jeepster ( for Australia) did quite well.
Olivia Bunn ( Australia) did a very nice test on her horse Top Of The Line.
They have to do what is called a medium standard test which is a rung below advanced level but two rungs up from Novice and elementary levels)
Of course the riders are much more interested in getting out there over the jumps, so the dressage quality is a little rough around the edges. But as long as the horses do what they are told and dont show resistance to the riders commands then they should go OK...this is all that is required at this level...to show that the horse responds and will be a safe ride over the jumps later on and isnt likely to kill you.
In 3 day eventing they award penalty points to the horse ( points taken off a theoretical perfect score).
In Grand Prix dressage ( about 6 rungs up from the 3 day event level) they actually award points to the horse and rider.
It looks terribly hot out there.
Seabiscuit
16-08-2004, 12:03
Does the 3 day event take longer than 3 days? I saw those two Aussie horses earlier and to my trained dressage eye I thought Jeepster was damned ordinary.
But they said more Aussie riders do the dressage tomorrow. This probably means the 3 day event stretches over longer than 3 days????
In the last few Olympics the Australians have made their move in the cross country leg.
Seabiscuit
16-08-2004, 12:08
200m freestyle looks an interesting betting prospect.
Seabiscuit
16-08-2004, 12:14
I must say that I have been disappointed in the performance of the Greek spectators so far at the Olympics. About 10 people at most events. I thought they would have been coming out in their droves thinking they own the Olympics and all.
Probably too hot for them. And they are worried about Osama getting in on the act.
Yes I think the three day eventing goes over longer than just three days at the Olympics.
IOC officials, worried by the television images being flashed around the world of athletes competing in near empty stadiums, have told the Athens Games organisers to give tickets away for free if necessary.
On the first full day of competition, weightlifter Nurcan Taylan became the first Turkish woman to win an Olympic gold medal, but her feat was achieved in a near empty stadium.
Today tennis superstars Venus Williams and Andy Roddick, used to playing to packed courts, began their Olympic quest to vacant stands.
Organising officals tried to play down the crisis, saying that they knew at the beginning of the Games some events would be badly attended because they were not popular sports in Greece.
"As we move on it will be much, much higher," said spokesman Michalis Zacharatos. "We are very pleased with our ticket sales."
But the International Olympic Committee knows its brand image is damaged by the sight of near empty stadiums.
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the then IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch told the Korean organisers to fix the situation and within 24 hours the main stadium was packed every day as school children and soldiers out of uniform were shipped in.
Four years ago in Sydney, free tickets were given away at the start of the Games after IOC complaints that there were not enough people in the stands.
"It is very important for the IOC that when people throughout the world watch the Games on television, they see filled stands. It reinforces the claim that the Olympics is the world's biggest sporting festival," said an international marketing expert here for the Games.
"Hugh blocks of vacant seats suggests the opposite and the IOC is very concious of its image."
In a bid to increase sales, 35 new ticket offices have been opened, making it easier for the public to buy them.
So far 2.9 million tickets have been sold out of a target of five million.
In Sydney, 9.5 million tickets were sold.
IOC officials, at a meeting with Greek organisers, today suggested ways that the spectator numbers could be increased, including giving tickets away to volunteers.
Athletics begins next week and the IOC wants a packed stadium for the most televised event of the Games.
With Greek sprint star, defending 200 metres champion Costas Kenteris, facing being thrown out of the Games after failing to turn up for a doping test, there are concerns thousands of Greeks will not bother to go to the athletics.
AFP
Seabiscuit
16-08-2004, 19:29
Rank NOC NOC Name Total Rank
by by
Gold Total
1 _CHN China 5 2 1 8 2
2 _AUS Australia 5 1 3 9 1
3 _JPN Japan 4 1 0 5 5
4 _ITA Italy 2 1 0 3 7
5 _TUR Turkey 2 0 1 3 7
5 _UKR Ukraine 2 0 1 3 7
7 _USA United States 1 4 3 8 2
8 _RUS Russia 1 3 2 6 4
9 _FRA France 1 2 2 5 5
10 _HUN Hungary 1 1 1 3 7
11 _THA Thailand 1 0 1 2 12
12 _RSA South Africa 1 0 0 1 19
13 _POL Poland 0 2 0 2 12
14 _NED Netherlands 0 1 2 3 7
15 _GER Germany 0 1 1 2 12
16 _GEO Georgia 0 1 0 1 19
16 _GBR Great Britain 0 1 0 1 19
16 _INA Indonesia 0 1 0 1 19
16 _POR Portugal 0 1 0 1 19
16 _SCG Serbia/Monteneg 0 1 0 1 19
16 _SVK Slovakia 0 1 0 1 19
16 _ESP Spain 0 1 0 1 19
23 _BEL Belgium 0 0 2 2 12
23 _BUL Bulgaria 0 0 2 2 12
23 _CUB Cuba 0 0 2 2 12
23 _KOR Korea 0 0 2 2 12
27 _ARG Argentina 0 0 1 1 19
27 _COL Colombia 0 0 1 1 19
27 _CZE Czech Republic 0 0 1 1 19
27 _MGL Mongolia 0 0 1 1 19
Seabiscuit
16-08-2004, 19:34
Australia is currently ranked No 2 on the tally based on golds won. Australia is ranked No 1 in total medals won.
Not sure what the Greeks are waiting for? Seems they have got no medals so far. Could the Greeks go through the whole Olympics without winning a medal? It would teach them right for having sprinters who run away from drug tests and for not turning up to watch the Olympics after always whingeing about how they were the home of the Olympics.
New Zealand have no medals either but no surprises there.
The USA so far at this Olympics has a bad record of running 2nd and 3rd but needs to find a bit extra to bring home the golds.
Seabiscuit
16-08-2004, 19:36
Well done to Mongolia for putting fat and rich countries like Greece and New Zealand to shame.
Chinese pair shoot down Venus
August 17, 2004 - 7:09AM
Defending champion Venus Williams, playing with Chanda Rubin, crashed out in the first round of the women's doubles at the Olympic tennis tournament.
The Americans lost to eighth-seeded Chinese pair Li Ting and Sun Tian Tian. 7-5 1-6 6-3 in one hour 46 minutes.
Venus had never played doubles with anyone other than her younger sister Serena who was forced out of the Athens Games with a knee injury. They won the gold medal together in Sydney four years ago.
The Chinese pair broke Rubin's serve in the eighth game of the third set when Williams put a volley out from the net.
And Sun clinched victory on her serve when Williams hit her return into the bottom of the net.
© 2004 AFP
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek::eek:
Handy Harry
17-08-2004, 08:53
August 17, 2004 - 5:49AM
Ian Thorpe has become Australia's greatest Olympian by winning the contest dubbed the "race of the century".
Thorpe avenged his Sydney 2000 loss to Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband, beating the defending champion in the 200m freestyle in Athens to secure his fifth Olympic gold medal.
The 21-year-old Thorpe's second gold medal of the Games catapults him above Australian Olympic greats Dawn Fraser, Murray Rose and Betty Cuthbert, who all won four golds.
Thorpe claimed three golds and two silvers in Sydney.
The world recordholder powered past van den Hoogenband in the final lap and also relegated the American wonderkid Michael Phelps to bronze.
The men's 200m freestyle had pitted four world recordholders - all Olympic champions - against each other in the one event.
"It felt hard. It was tough. It was a pretty good performance. I'm ecstatic," Thorpe said.
Thorpe and van den Hoogenband embraced after the race, the deposed champion telling the Australian: "Now, we're even."
Grant Hackett, Australia's 1500m world record holder, finished fifth.
Thorpe now has a chance to do what no swimmer has ever done before - win the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle treble at an Olympics.
Thorpe's power in the pool helped maintain Australia's no. 2 spot on the Olympic medal table with six golds, behind China.
But the success of Australian women continued to underpin the nation's Olympic push.
Brooke Hanson, competing in her first Olympics at the age of 26, took silver in the 100m breaststroke.
Hanson looked happily stunned after the race. World recordholder Leisel Jones, who won the bronze, just looked stunned.
Out at the shooting venue there were tears of joy from Suzanne Balogh, who clinched Australia's fifth gold of the Games in the women's trap.
Balogh, who took up the sport at the age of 14 to spend more time with her father, became the first Australian woman to win a shooting gold medal.
"Oh thank you, Mum and Dad," said Balogh, 31, who mastered tricky winds to triumph over Spain's Maria Quintanal.
But the winds proved too much for reigning Olympic champion archer Simon Fairweather, who tried to prepare for Athens by practicing with industrial fans.
Fairweather, at his fifth Olympics, went out in the first round of the individual event in the historic Panathinaiko Stadium.
He still has a chance in the team competition alongside 17-year-old Tim Cuddihy, who remained in the hunt for an individual medal.
Australia's teams generally did well, with the Hockeyroos beating South Africa 3-0 and the water polo team winning a physical tussle with Italy 6-5.
Australia's baseballers may miss a semi-final berth after a 3-0 loss to Taiwan, but the softballers took revenge by edging out the Taiwanese 1-0.
In tennis, Delta Goodrem watched as boyfriend Mark Philippoussis lost to Belgian Olivier Rochus 3-6 6-0 6-1.
Nicole Pratt and Samantha Stosur also went out in the doubles, but Alicia Molik downed the more fancied Elena Dementieva of Russia in the singles.
In diving, medal hopes Loudy Tourky and Lynda Folauhola finished a disappointing fourth in the women's 10 metre synchro platform.
But Natalie Cook's bid for a second successive beach volleyball gold medal remained on track after her second round victory with partner Nicole Sanderson.
© 2004 AAP
Oaklee Groover did his test today and was easily the best of the Australian horses...his rider has done a good job on him. The horse apparently was rescued from the knackers for 300 dollars...is a thoroughbred by Nediym ( sire of General Nediym) :p
Seabiscuit
18-08-2004, 07:04
The Schoe is fastest qualifier for the 100m freestyle ahead of Hoogie. I will be hoping for the Schoe in the final.
I think it would be a good idea, if betting, to just to lay the favourites in any event...they seem to be dropping like flys ( with the exception of Ian Thorpe in the 200)
Australia's seven-year grip on the men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay came to an end on Tuesday night in Athens when the United States team led by Michael Phelps, defeated the team of Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Michael Klim and teenager Nick Sprenger.
Australia had not lost the middle-distance relay since finishing out of the medals at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Since then they had won at the 2000 Olympics, the 1998, 2001, and 2003 world championships, the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games, and the 1997, 1999, and 2002 Pan Pacific Championships, and have set four world records in the event.
But that amazing streak screeched to a halt when the US team of Phelps, Klete Keller, Ryan Lochte and Peter Vanderkay produced a stunning effort to win the relay.
Seabiscuit
18-08-2004, 07:45
In general it would be a good idea as people know nobody bar the winner of gold at the last Olympics who is generally the fav. But the Olympics were last held 4 years ago so that it is old form.
I have only laid one fav (Hoogie in the 100) and I have been burnt there as he has swum well and is now much shorter odds than when I laid him.
Leisel Jones in the 200m breast stroke looks a bit of a choker. I will be looking to lay her if she is short enough.
Ian Thorpe at $10 looks a reasonable lay in the 100m as he has never won a thing over this distance.
By Jonathan Green
August 18, 2004
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2004/08/18/hoy_narrowweb__200x333.jpg click for a photo
Falling Hoy: Australia's Andrew Hoy and Mr Pracatan part company at the Markopoulo Equestrian Centre. Photo: AP
Australia's chances of a fourth consecutive team eventing gold medal have been dented by strong performances from the sport's European champions and a fall during Tuesday's cross-country phase by senior Australian rider Andrew Hoy.
A Sydney 2000 individual eventing silver medallist, Hoy's sixth Olympic campaign came to grief at the 31st of 34 obstacles on the 5570-metre Markopoulo Equestrian Centre course. Horse - Mr Pracatan - and rider were uninjured but on a day when almost all riders rode untroubled rounds on what was generally agreed to be a "soft" cross-country horse, Australia were unable to make up ground on the competition leaders.
After the first dressage phase of the three-day triple-discipline event, Australia had been in fifth place after Britain, France, Germany and the US. With all 75 riders back in the stables after the cross-country the standings stayed the same, with all leading riders other than Hoy having successfully defended their dressage performances by adding no cross-country penalties.
Best performed of the Australians was Olympic debutante Rebel Morrow, whose cross-country ride added only a small time penalty to her personal-best dressage score. Her efforts earned her seventh place in the individual rankings, still some way behind a top three filled by some of the sport's biggest names: Nicolas Touzaint of France, Bettina Hoy of Germany and Kimberley Severson of the US.
"I'm amazingly happy, ecstatic," Morrow said. "I'm sitting on one of the most amazing horses possible. I've just got to hang on."
Unlike her team leader. Hoy's fall may not influence the team result - one of the five riders' scores can be discarded after the final show jumping phase of the competition - but he ended the cross-country in 62nd place individually and well out of medal contention.
However, there was some consolation for the bruised Australian in the performance of his wife Bettina, with the German now in second place in the individual competition.
"It makes it better for me that Bettina did well," Hoy said. "And I'm really pleased for the other Australian guys but disappointed I couldn't produce a performance for them.
"It's tough, but you have your good days and your bad days. It was just one of those things, one of those genuine mistakes that horses make. He doesn't realise it's an Olympic Games."
Hoy was at a loss to explain his tumble at the complex triple element jump that also claimed New Zealand rider Andrew Nicholson.
"I started out really well, the horse was jumping fabulously and I was up on time," he said. "I had him in good balance, and when he left the ground it felt really good."
Then came the fall, one that left Hoy winded and lying on his back, with his horse - having jumped the rope spectator fence - in the hands of a German cameraman.
"I dont think I can actually say what I really thought at that moment. It was just devastating. I just knew I had to get back on, I had to finish."
A fall that brings down only the rider brings penalties, but a fall that involves the horse going down as well results in immediate disqualification. With his horse on its feet, Hoy said he was therefore determined to ride the best possible time once he'd remounted, in the unlikely event that his score might need to be counted in the overall team effort.
But gold medals look likely to be nothing more than a memory at these Olympics.
"It's just a shame I didn't get it right today," Hoy said. "That fourth medal . . . it's something that I would see as pretty unachievable at the moment for the team."
However, Hoy will be keeping his fingers crossed for Bettina, riding her best Olympic effort.
"I'll be basking in her glory. At least it will still be a Hoy up there getting a medal."
http://www.theage.com.au/olympics/articles/2004/08/17/1092508480520.html
Fighting Tiger
18-08-2004, 19:18
Seabiscuit,
I (like you) know full well that true value is best found beyond the obvious.
I agree that The Shoo is good value at 5/2 however maybe even greater value can be found in his stablemate (& possible fellow Sth Afr juicer) Neethling at 40/1 as well as the 3rd world - ranked 100m freestyler in the Italian Stallion Magnini is at 80/1 in race day markets - to me that is HUGE Value & have backed them both appropriately.
Go The Italian Stallion & the long odds stablemate.
Tonight will be interesting viewing thats for sure.
Australia picked up a surprise minor medal for the men's 100m freestyle with Ian Thorpe taking bronze behind Pieter van den Hoogenband, the Dutchman successfully defending the title he won in Sydney with a 48.17s performance.
Thorpe clocked a personal best time of 48.56s to finish just behind South African Roland Schoeman (48.23s).
Good tipping there SBikkies
Seabiscuit
19-08-2004, 08:48
It wasn't very good tipping as Hoogie nailed the poor old Schoe by 0.06 seconds costing me some $$$$
The froggies are protesting against the German team winning the 3 day event gold...and Andrew Hoys missus is right in the thick of things as she rides for the German team.
*****************************************
France, which had contested Germany's original because Hoy crossed the start line twice, were declared gold-medallists as Germany dropped to fourth.
But Germany lodged an appeal which was granted.
Australia's major blow came yesterday when Hoy's fall sent him to the bottom of the rankings and Olivia Bunn was forced to withdraw with an injured horse.
Only the scores of the top three riders in each team are counted so Australia was forced to rely only on Rebel Morrow, Phillip Dutton and Stuart Tinney.
But in the final event, jumping, Tinney knocked down a disappointing nine rails to rack up 36 penalty points, taking his score from 48.80 to 84.80.
Solid performances from Dutton and Morrow failed to lift Australia.
Hoy said the problems were a mixture of little things not going to plan.
"One or two points then another couple of points," he said.
"Stuart in the show jumping round, he would have never wished for that, noone would have wished for that.
"It just wasn't to be on the day."
Morrow finished ninth out of 69 riders, Dutton finished 10th, Tinney finished 38th and Hoy finished 57th.
Dutton and Morrow will compete for the individual eventing medal in another round of show jumping in Athens tonight.
Coke kid in heaven
Making it to the top of the tree in sport generally requires athletes to have strict diets, but there are the odd exceptions to the rule. Take, for instance, track cyclist Ryan Bayley who continues to astound his coaches with his form despite boasting a food intake that invariably is of the takeaway variety and, more often than not, is washed down with Coke.
So you can imagine his joy when he arrived in Athens this week to discover each athlete is presented with a token that delivers free Coke on demand. Bayley, in fact, was so impressed by the deal that he arrived at his press conference yesterday sipping from a bottle, and said he would do his best to try to reach the limit of 500 bottles per athlete. Told that that equated to 50 bottles a day (for his 10-day stay), Bayley said: "Yeah, that should work out OK." Coach Martin Barass said he "freaked out" when he met Bayley seven years ago and heard about his diet and told him he could be dead before he was 20. Quipped Bayley: "I'm now 22."
Richard Cashman: Athens 2004, the no-show Games
August 19, 2004
SPECTATORS are important to the Olympics. They are more than the backdrop to a global event; they provide the tangible buzz of excitement that is conveyed to the huge television audience.
Although there was a full house for the much-praised opening ceremony in Athens on Friday night, spectators have stayed away in droves in the first four days of competition. There have been reasonable crowds at some of the glamour events, such as gymnastics, swimming and diving, but many other attractive and well-appointed venues have been virtually empty.
These revealing TV images are backed up by the figures on ticket sales. Although there is some debate about how many tickets have been sold -- figures vary from 2.9 million to 3.3. million -- it is well short of the available 5.3 million tickets. These figures reverse the trends of previous Games. The 1996 Atlanta Olympics set a record with 8.3 million tickets sold.
Although Sydney had less spectator capacity and a smaller aggregate of 6.7 million spectators, it set a benchmark for the proportion of tickets sold -- more than 90 per cent. This was an impressive take-up figure because it occurred across the board -- it included preliminaries and finals, popular and minor sports.
The absent spectators are a matter of great concern to the International Olympic Committee and to the Athens organisers. There have been media reports of proposals to rent a crowd, to give away free tickets to the public and the volunteers.
Various theories have been advanced to explain the no-show Olympics. One is that the events started on a holiday weekend and another is that there is limited interest in the preliminary stages. But the most popular theory is that the Athens Olympics, being the first Summer Games since September 11, are a casualty of increased security fears.
There may be some truth in this view. Since 9/11, after all, there has been an increased fear of terrorism. It has been reported that fewer Americans have taken up Olympic packages than was the case in 2000. It is likely as well that there are fewer European visitors.
However, international tourists represent only a small proportion of the Olympic crowd. It was reported that there were 111,000 Olympic tourists at the Sydney Olympics. If each tourist attended 10 events, they made up less than one-sixth of the spectator figure. The vast majority of spectators were from the host city, state and country. And it's true that other post-2001 mega sporting events the 2002 Soccer World Cup in Japan and South Korea and the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia drew bumper crowds for preliminary matches as well as the finals.
It's hard to avoid the conclusion that the Greeks are not supporting their own Games. Such a claim will puzzle Australians, who readily embrace a global sporting event of any kind. Who can forget the 20,000-plus crowd at the non-rugby city of Launceston to watch an inconsequential match (in terms of qualification prospects) between two rugby minnows, Namibia and Romania?
It is ironic that although Greece is the home of the Olympics, it does not have a strong culture of Olympic sport in more contemporary times. While some Olympic sports are popular -- such as football, track and field, wrestling, tae kwon do and diving -- others, such as field hockey, are hardly known in Greece.
Greece's performances in the modern Olympics have also been relatively modest. Since 1948, Greece has only won 12 gold, 13 silver and nine bronze medals -- a total of 34. This is little more than half of what Australia achieved in the 2000 Games alone. Greece failed to win a gold medal in eight of the 13 Summer Games between 1948 and 2000. (It's doubtful whether Tuesday's fortuitous gold medial in men's synchronised diving changes this pattern.)
The interest of host country spectators is always whetted by anticipated Olympic success. Australians flocked to the pool to witness an expected gold rush and Stadium Australia was filled to capacity when Cathy Freeman won her historic gold medal. The Greek crowds have much fewer gold medal prospects and the possible absence of two star sprinters has reduced opportunities to celebrate the success of their own athletes.
Greece's relatively small population -- about half the size of Australia's -- is another problem.
Maybe the months and months of international criticism, the seeming disorganisation and the anticipated chaos of the Games have taken their toll on the Greek public, even though the organisers achieved a remarkable turnaround in the last months. Sydney, remember, had its share of controversies in the lead-up period. But with the arrival of the torch, four months before the Games, the Olympic mood in the host country became positive, even euphoric.
So will the absence of spectators affect the assessment of the Games? Sadly, it will, if it persists. Empty stadiums convey a sense of a lack of public interest in the competition, which diminishes the Games for athletes as well as viewers. Some may conclude, perhaps unfairly, that the organisers have not been successful in persuading their public to fully embrace Greece's moment in the international spotlight.
Richard Cashman is an adjunct professor in the school of leisure, sport and tourism at the University of Technology, Sydney, and is involved in the UTS Olympic program. His books include Sport in the National Imagination (Walla Walla Press) and Staging the Olympics (UNSW Press).
The Australian
There were tears, and then tears, and then more tears.
The first were tears of joy after Bettina Hoy, wife of the Australian eventing Olympian Andrew Hoy, rode a clear round in the final showjumping phase of the team three-day event to move Germany into the lead.
The second: tears of crushing, cruel despair when the second-placed France protested and the ground jury added penalty points to Hoy's score, dropping Germany to fourth, and Hoy from second to eighth individual place.
And finally tears of relief and elation when the jury's decision was reversed on appeal minutes before she rode her Australian-owned horse, Ringwood Cockatoo, in the final deciding round of jumping to take the individual medal.
Gold to Germany, gold to Bettina Hoy.
Andrew Hoy said after her win: "I can't believe that I'm so happy! I'm just basking in her glory."
As were the Germans packing the stands of the Markopoulo Equestrian Centre. They had a chant just right for this quintessential German-Australian moment: "Bettina, Bettina, Bettina, Hoy! Hoy! Hoy!"
According to the French, Hoy had cantered twice through the electronic start before beginning her showjumping round. Although the timing had not started until her second pass, the jury headed by the German Christoph Hess determined that the first crossing had been the true start and applied 14 time penalties to Hoy's score.
"When I heard, I said an appeal has just got to go in," her husband said. German officials thought likewise, and for more than an hour an appeals panel pored over video of the incident, thumbed the rule books and scratched their heads.
Hoy and horse had no choice but to go about their preparation, not knowing when they would have to jump in the individual contest, whose timing would be determined - along with the medal - by the appeal decision.
"We had the horse up here in the waiting position, just walking up and down, up and down, just waiting to hear what had happened," Hoy said. "I just tried to focus on the next showjumping round."
And not just any showjumping round: a total of 12 1.25-metre jumps to be taken in 96 seconds in pursuit of Olympic gold.
Afterwards, an elated Andrew Hoy marvelled at his wife's poise. "In a funny way it turned out to be such a positive thing for Bettina. It's more than I could have coped with, I think. I have never, ever seen or heard of anything like this."
Keep laying those favourites.
Flying Dutchman and Popov crash out
August 20, 2004
Olympic 100 metres freestyle champion Pieter van den Hoogenband and world champion Alexander Popov were both eliminated in the heats of the men's 50m freestyle in a major shock in the swimming pool on Thursday.
Van den Hoogenband, who retained his 100m freestyle title on Wednesday, was 17th overall in 22.56 seconds, while Popov was joint 18th in 22.58s. The top 16 qualified for the evening's semi-finals.
The 26-year-old Dutchman finished 0.03s behind 16th and slowest qualifier Lyndon Ferns of South Africa, who was sixth in the same heat. Popov finished equal third in his heat.
Van den Hoogenband, who took the silver in the 200m freestyle behind Ian Thorpe on Monday, managed only seventh place in the final heat behind American Gary Hall jnr, who clocked far and away the fastest time overall of 22.04s. Hall shared the 2000 Olympic 50m freestyle title with countryman Anthony Ervin.
Popov, appearing in his fourth and last Olympics at the age of 32, was eliminated in the 100m freestyle heats on Tuesday.
SMH
Seabiscuit
20-08-2004, 16:29
Told ya Hoogie would be the flop of the Games in the pool! Can't even get past the heats
You know there has got to be some good money to be made if you knew your sports well enough. I dont follow archery, Greeko Roman wrestling or fencing...( havn't even followed the horses for a long time) but if you had half a clue Im sure you could clean up.
Seabiscuit
20-08-2004, 16:57
Is there much action on BF on these Olympics only events like wrestling and archery?
I haven't followed the horses for the past 2 months but have started getting into it again from last Sat. Sydney will be wet tomorrow with lots of spell horses so I will be leaving that alone.
I meant horses as in dressage, 3 day event and showjumping.
But yes, the racing is starting to pick up again & becoming a little bit interesting ...Private Steer goes around tomorrow at WF.
Gatlin wins glamour race, Greene third
By Jacquelin Magnay
August 23, 2004 - 6:42AM
American star Justin Gatlin flew through the air like a plane, arms outstretched as he cross the finish line of the men's 100 metres, knowing that finally he had miraculously captured the Olympic title in a season-best time of 9.85s.
The excitable Gatlin was close to tears immediately after the blanket finish of the blue-riband race, held in near perfect conditions, as he hugged his close mate and training partner Shawn Crawford, who finished fourth.
The Nigerian born Portugese Francis Obikwelu, who was just pipped out in 9.86s and the reigning Olympic champion Maurice Greene, in 9.87s, filled the minor placings.
The triumph for Gatlin was a major surprise as it had been expected that Asafa Powell, of Jamaica, the church band drummer, would push Greene for the title.
But 22 year old Gatlin got a flying start and his strength mid-race was the telling difference. He then did a victory lap, seemingly hugging every spectator who leaned over the fence.
Gatlin is coached by Trevor Graham, the controversial former coach of Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery and he has a drugs mark on his record.
In 2001 Gatlin tested positive to amphetamines, and was banned for two years but on appeal it was reduced to a year.
He explained to the appeal tribunal that he had taken the drug to treat attention deficit disorder - the same disorder claimed by Bulldogs rugby league star Willie Mason.
SMH
Seabiscuit
23-08-2004, 19:28
Poor old Jana looks in a bit of trouble in the 400m hurdles. The Greek gal just looks too good (having come from nowhere).
They're all croooks in these throwing sports....
August 25, 2004 - 2:09AM
Hungarian Olympic discus champion Robert Fazekas will lose his gold medal and be expelled from the Games after being caught trying to tamper with a urine sample, an International Olympic Committee source said.
The source also said Belarussian high jumper Aleksey Lesnichiy, who was last in the qualifying round, had tested positive for the anabolic agent clenbuterol.
Fazekas was spotted by officials trying to tamper with his sample after the final.
Greek news reports said that Fazekas allegedly tried to submit his test with urine from another person from a plastic bag he hid near his genitals.
AAP:eek: :confused: :eek:
Looks like they have finally found some spectators to attend the track and field events. :p
August 29, 2004
The Sun-Herald
The feeling in Athens right now is like the one you get when you sing Auld Lang Syne, a kind of overwhelming nostalgia, writes Peter FitzSimons.
And so the end, or just about. It has, all up, been a wonderful Olympics that has again confounded all of us who from time to time reckon that the whole exercise of the Games must have passed high noon, and a once wonderful idea must shortly collapse under the weight of its own hubris, the stench of the cheating mongrel drug-cheats, the costs of security, and all the rest. And yet, and yet somehow, it all still works. Somehow, just like it happened in Sydney, after all the lead-up hassles, headlines and predictions of disaster, from the moment the torch was lit all the problems faded -- or were at least reduced to footnotes. Cheesy, I know, but the feeling in Athens right now is like the one you get when you sing Auld Lang Syne, a kind of overwhelming nostalgia even though it's not yet formally over.
Taxi # 1
ON the subject of terrorism and its happy lack in this Games to date - touch wood - my taxidriver explained it succinctly. "You don't understand. They don't hate us. They hate you. We knew that they would never attack us during the Olympics, and only have all this security for you. But we knew we wouldn't need it, and we haven't."
Taxi # 2
ONE of the best yarns of the Games is what happened when Dutch rower Simon Diederik went out for a night on the town, after winning a silver medal. Well, you know what it's like. All that excitement, all that celebrating, and then more celebrating still. Somehow, when he got back to the athletes' village and got out of the taxi, he suddenly realised: "Where's my SILVER MEDAL!?!?!" Meanwhile, taxidriver Yiannis Zavos, 42, had himself gone home and was getting out of the cab when he spotted something shiny on his back seat. "The truth is that I tried it on at home," Zavos 'fessed up to the Macedonian Press Agency. "I became an Olympic medallist for a while. I couldn't resist. The thing is that I gave the chance to my wife to start making comments. I think that she was making fun of me." Well, he thought he looked all right, but still, "It was out of the question for me to keep it. I said to myself that I had to give it back first thing the next morning. This was not my medal. Somebody had worked very hard to win it and had to take it back."
An Acropolis of our own?
WHAT can Sydney learn from Athens? Well, no one does higgledy-piggledy cobblestone streets better than the Athenians, and their Plaka district, within the shadow of the Acropolis, is a delight from first to last. Chock-a-block with restaurants, cafes and the passing parade, it's about as good as it gets - and is only possible because they have blocked cars from most of it. We can't get our own Acropolis, but why don't we block off The Rocks, and make it for pedestrians only, and outdoor cafes and restaurants? Is this crazy, or am I having an inspired Schofield moment?
Snowy's inscription
TFF's item last week about visiting the wonderfully tranquil Phaleron War Cemetery on the edge of Athens - noting the graves of Australian soldiers such as NX 4552 Cpl AV Lenholm who died on 19th April 1941, aged 23, and whose inscription reads As The Ivy Clings To The Oak, So My Memory Clings To You - did indeed draw memories from readers. One was Susan de Windt, who remembers Corporal Lenholm as "Uncle Snowy", so named because of his very blond hair. Born in Newcastle, he enlisted from Bowral and was killed by bullets fired from a German fighter plane in Greece. The inscription was requested by his mother, Elizabeth, who did indeed cling to his memory till her own dying day, though she never got over it. One of four boys and three sisters, Corporal Lenholm is survived by his two sisters Marjorie Filby, 85, and Elsie Wallis, 82. His photo is still on the wall at both sisters' places, and Marjorie Filby still puts a flower on his picture for his birthday and Anzac Day. (It'd make you weep, wouldn't it?) When both women occasionally attend reunions of his 2/3 Battalion they are not only warmly welcomed by his comrades but the Diggers say they would recognise the "Lenholm girls" anywhere, as they look like Snowy - or at least what he might have looked like, had he not been killed.
Many of you will have heard, or read about, Ray Hadley's expletive-riddled rant against a 2GB colleague which leaked out from the radio station's Athens broadcasting facility and has been doing the rounds of the internet ever since. I gather it's kept plenty of people at home amused, as it has done in Athens in both media and diplomatic circles. Some of it has even been translated into Greek! The extraordinary thing, though, was the issue behind it. Hadley devoted nigh on two minutes of high-octane abuse about what a "spastic" this colleague was, how totally incompetent, etc, etc. All because the bloke - regarded as one of the best in the business - hadn't seen fit to include in 2GB's 6am news a 10-second grab of Hadley calling a race! Truly breathtaking. Who does he think he is? Jonesy?
pfitzsimons@smh.com.au
anyone got the link to Ray Hadley's charming speech ???
Those hoping Australia will snare more than a dozen gold medals at the Athens Olympics should brace themselves to be let down.
That's the warning of mathematician Stephen Clarke, head of sports statistics at Melbourne's Swinburne University. Dr Clarke, who won a PhD for work tipping football and cricket results, says the loss of the "home advantage" enjoyed in Sydney will have a bigger impact than many realise.
In June the Australia Olympic Committee's director of sport, Craig Phillips, said Australia was on target for 50 medals - 14 gold, 20 silver and 16 bronze.
The Australian Sports Commission estimates Australia may win 46 medals - 14 gold, 18 silver and 14 bronze. Both predictions are well short of the 58 medals - 16 gold, 25 silver and 17 bronze - won at the Sydney Games.
But Dr Clarke believes Australia will only bag about 40 medals in Athens, and just 10 will be gold.
Final result: AUS 17 16 16 49
The Australia Olympic Committee's prediction is the closest. Stephen Clarke's prediction is way off the mark. So don't trust the statisticians too much. The most surprising thing is that Australia has actually won more gold medals in this Olympics (17) than the one held in Sydney (only 16).
"New Zealand have no medals either but no surprises there....
Well done to Mongolia for putting fat and rich countries like Greece and New Zealand to shame"
Geez Bikkies what Kiwi wronged you in a previous life???
Still, it was a good laugh hearing someone describe us at "fat and rich" - obviously you haven't visited here for a while or have a clue about how pathetic our sports funding is compared to some other countries like, ummm, Australia...
Seabiscuit
30-08-2004, 07:38
It was remiss of me Tosser not to congratulate NZ in beating home places like Mongolia and Hong Kong. Looks like NZ came with a Starcraft like finish to put Mongolia away.
Funding has got nothing to do with it BTW. Most Institute of Sport athletes and academy athletes end up as also rans. It is the tough kiddies from the bush and outer suburbs that win all the medals. The rest of us just lie back on the couch with a drink in hand and cheer these tough kiddies home.
Speaking of couches you must be a psychologist. I do harbour bitter resentment against NZers due to a past run in I had with some Kiwi at Bondi. I also have not got over Australia going out early in the World Cup on home soil when Dipak Patel opened the bowling with his lollipop bowling.
Seabiscuit
30-08-2004, 07:40
Anyways it was good to see the Greeks ended up staging the best Olympics ever (even if they did not turn up to watch). Well done to the Greeks.
Is that what they said? Best Olympics ever? No way!
Safe, well-organised, enthralling and poignant, the 2004 Olympics were a surprising success, writes John Huxley.
The wonderful thing about the ancient Olympic Games, the Athenian philosopher and sports enthusiast Epictetus wrote a couple of thousand years ago, was that they were a metaphor for human existence. Every day was filled with difficulties and tribulations: unbearable heat, pushy crowds, grime, noise. To those who wearied of such petty annoyances, Epictetus's response was simple: "You put up with it all because it's an unforgettable experience."
So it was in Athens, which for a fortnight managed, at least temporarily, to distract the people of the world from their worries, possibly even their politics, their wars, their natural disasters.
In their billions, they formed a vast, invisible television audience. In their hundreds of thousands, they came to Athens to compete, to work, to watch an Olympics that was remarkably rich in unforgettable experiences and lacking in petty annoyances.
All human existence, all human life seemed to be represented here. There were the winners, such as Greek runner Fani Halkia, who became to the Athens Games what Cathy Freeman was to Sydney's.
And the losers, such as the US "Bad Dream" Team, the basketballers whose early defeats had newspapers around the world running premature headlines that read "USA RIP".
There were the courageous, such as Australian Grant Hackett, who was helped from his sickbed by teammate Ian Thorpe to swim and win his second successive 1500 metres freestyle gold.
And the cheats, such as the two Greek sprinters, Kostas Kederis and Katerina Thanou, who never even made the starting line and, worse, shot-putter Irina Korzhanenko. Shamefully, the Russian was busted for drugs after becoming the first athlete to win an event at the sacred site of Olympia for almost two millennia.
Of course, as Australian Tony Perrottet points out in The Naked Olympics, from which the words of Epictetus were taken, cheating, corruption and scandal are not new.
There were the precocious young, such as Australian swim sensation Jodie Henry, and the evergreen, such as her teammate pistol shooter Annette Woodward, who at just 56 was reportedly the oldest female competitor at the games.
There were the "bursting out of their skins" living: American gold medallist Misty May scattered her mother's ashes on the beach volleyball court.
And, sadly, there were the dying and the dead: a photographer who died in a motor accident, a competitor who leapt to her death from a balcony, a soldier guarding a venue who was shot dead with his own gun while playing Russian roulette. All part of the Olympic tapestry, regrettably.
There were the local crowds, who, after a desperately slow start, belatedly began buying tickets, filling stadiums, "gatecrashing their own Olympics homecoming party" as one writer put it, on a wild night at the diving, when Greece won its first gold medal. The Greeks have a word for it. Pandemonium.
There were the nations. More than 200 marching together, friend and foe, honouring the Olympic truce. Many would win no medals. Some, such as Israel, would win their first gold medal ever (for sailboarding).
Two, Djibouti and Liechtenstein, were represented by a single athlete. The allegedly "free" Iraq had welcome successes, which were spoiled somewhat by George Bush's clumsy attempts to annex them for his election campaign. Such is the global significance of the Games.
There were the fanatics: the German who had driven in a beaten-up old Trabant to Athens from Atlanta via Sydney, the gypsies, the prostitutes and stray dogs, all of which resisted attempts by authorities to clear them from the streets.
In all, 10,090 athletes, 17,500 media (10 per cent of them from US television network NBC), 45,000 volunteers, countless security staff.
Mercifully, the only people who appeared to be missing were the terrorists, the anarchists and the local anti-globalisation protesters - though there was some small-scale anti-American activity over the weekend.
Looking back over the 17 days of these crowded, colourful, constantly entertaining Games, it is difficult to believe that barely a few weeks ago there were many who insisted they would not be ready, they would not work or, if they did go ahead, they would become the Apocalympics.
Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee,
considered calling the Athens Olympics the "surprising" Games.
Surprisingly good, it must be said, from almost every perspective (except, perhaps, from the catering point of view. Carbon dating revealed the rolls on sale in the media centre must have been left over from the ancient Games.)
As The Economist suggested on the eve of the Games, there was a very real possibility that it would "reinforce the idea that Greece is not quite first-world rather than scotch it".
The Athenians, badly shaken when they had not been trusted to stage the centenary Games in 1996, seemed to fear this too, even accusing other countries like Australia of undermining their efforts. But their confidence, like their pride, grew. They began to enjoy themselves.
Ultimately, they produced a Games different from, but easily the equal of Sydney's. Spectacular, safe, friendly, efficient and without the edginess many expected would inevitably flow from the omnipresence of security. There was, too, a sense of the historic, of the Olympics coming home.
Maybe it was Athenian reserve, maybe it was the volunteers, who were patient and friendly but lacked the vivacity of their Sydney counterparts, but for some reason there was never quite the same host-city vibe as in 2000.
The ancient Acropolis looked wonderful. The popular Plaka buzzed with revellers, though many of them seemed to be tourists. By night, the spanking-new Metro filled with spectators heading off to venues, waving national banners, singing national songs.
And, at least in the second week, the stadiums exploded with noise and blue-and-white flags, especially when Greeks, such as walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka, were winning gold medals. Or before the men's 200metres, when the partisan crowd demonstrated its displeasure at the absence of Kederis and Thanou.
But there was no Olympic boulevard, no huge crowds gathering nightly at big screens. Most evenings the main square, Syntagma, was so empty that one Australian official carelessly said: "You could fire a cannon through the place with no risk of hitting anyone."
No matter. As every cab driver in Athens told anyone with an Olympic lanyard hanging round their necks, "Greece has shown the world". Whether the cabbies will be quite as happy when the bills, possibly for as much as $US12billion ($17bn), start coming in will not be known for several months.
Already local newspapers have begun lobbying for the IOC to bear some of the huge burden of making the Games - the first in the new "Age of Terrorism" - bomb-proof. Perhaps it should. Certainly, Olympic officials have good reason to be pleased with the local organisers, especially after such dire forebodings.
Not only did things run smoothly - even an earthquake 70 kilometres north of Athens failed to knock organisers off their stride - but the Games were for once judged neither too big nor too commercial, nor too overpadded with pointless sports.
Even modern pentathlon, a sport that has fought hard to keep its place in the program, produced an exciting spectacle - though anyone who saw Swiss rider Niklaus Bruenisholz having a bad mare day will cringe with sympathy for years to come.
His horse Elletra refused to jump several fences, galloped through others and only occasionally, as if by accident, manage to clear a couple. Man and beast in perfect disharmony.
But drugs remain a big, albeit unquantifiable, problem for the IOC. Many old athletics records are tainted and, sadly, too many new performances are regarded with suspicion if they seem in any away out of the ordinary.
On the most memorable night at the track, Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj finally got his gold, Mexican red-hot favourite Ana Guevara was beaten in the women's 400metres, a trio of Kenyans gave the first display of synchronised steeplechasing and a couple of temperamental Russians huffed and puffed and pole-vaulted into the night.
Fabulous. But it was marred by the nagging fear that superlatives should be withheld until the test results come back. Sure enough, by the end of that night news had came through that the Hungarian winner of the men's discus had become the latest athlete to be stripped of his medal after testing.
So, is the record number of drug busts evidence that the IOC is catching up with the cheats, or simply that there are more cheats? No one can accurately say.
And, finally, what of Australia's performance? Over coming months, many thousands of words will be written about medals won, missions accomplished, records broken, personal bests recorded, young stars unearthed, old favourites farewelled and - watch this space - a track-and-field team savaged.
Apart from general disorganisation, surely one of the reasons for its poor performance was that it is losing young athletes to other, better-rewarded, sports. Perhaps there is just too much choice in Australia.
Of the names that dominated the news before the team arrived in Athens, Thorpe lived up to Australia's high expectations, Jana Pittman did her best to bounce back from injury and Sean Eadie left without winning a medal. Fellow cyclist Ben Kersten, who flitted in and out of the team, did not get a ride.
Of those who featured prominently during the Games, many, such as triumphant cyclists Sara Carrigan and Anna Meares and shooter Suzy Balogh, may have been unfamiliar. One, Sally Robbins, must have been unknown to all but rowing aficionados.
Yet it was her performance more than any other that caused Australia to stop, to reflect, to examine its national psyche and the part played by sporting success, failure and - critically - falling short.
Of the many images that remain long after the last Olympic athlete has left Athens, that of Robbins sitting slumped forward in the women's eight boat is likely to be the most poignant. Maybe even the most meaningful.
cheesebeast
01-09-2004, 17:16
anyone got the link to Ray Hadley's charming speech ???
http://www.crikey.com.au/images/2004/08/25-YT9VWUQH00.mp3
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