Glittering opening for Olympics

ATHENS, Greece - The Olympic Games returned to their birthplace in Greece on Friday after 108 years with a glittering ceremony set to put to memory thoughts of construction delays and doping scandals.

Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos officially opened the Games after a ceremony that featured more than 4,000 performers and a parade featuring over 10,000 competitors.

The Olympic Cauldron was then ignited by the host nation's former gold medal-winning windsurfer Nikos Kaklamanakis.

"Athletes, I turn to you now. This is the moment you deserve to enjoy," International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said in a short speech.

"Greece is standing before you. We are ready. We have waited long for this moment," said the games' chief organizer, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki.

Around 75,000 dignitaries, officials and spectators inside the main Olympic Stadium were joined by an estimated global television audience of four billion for the Opening Ceremony, which embraced the theme of old and new.

As well as being the home of the ancient Olympics, Greece hosted the first modern Games in 1896.

"The great moment has come!" cried the announcer in the stadium as fireworks lit up the sky above the purpose-built stadium.

Giving the Games a new twist, the Greek flag preceded the world's athletes and the Greek team arrived last.

Greek weightlifting legend Pyrros Dimas, seeking his fourth consecutive gold medal, carried the host nation's flag into the stadium.

Dimas was brought up in Albania but is revered in Greece after winning three times for his adopted homeland between 1992 and 2000.

Following Dimas were 10,500 athletes competing under 202 flags.

Huge cheers went up for the Afghanistani team, returning to Olympic competition after an eight year absence, and for the competitors from the Pacific atolls of Kiribati, which makes its Olympic debut. The Iraqi and U.S. teams also received warm receptions.

The ceremony, one of the largest theatrical performances ever staged, drew on Greek mythology and began with hundreds of drummers marching into the stadium, pounding to the rhythm of a heartbeat. The infield was flooded to symbolize Greece's connection to the sea.

A boy on a paper replica of a ship sailed out into the arena -- to run to officials as the Greek flag was raised and the country's national anthem played.

A centaur -- the mythical half man, half horse -- threw a lance symbolizing a comet into the water to light the five-ring Olympic symbol.

In another segment, three giant statues representing different stages in Greek history broke apart and were pulled by wires high above the ground.

The ancient god of love, Eros, then flew above two lovers dancing and playing in the water.

Human consciousness
The main part of the ceremony was "an allegoric journey of the evolution of human consciousness ... from the mythological perception of the world to the logical," Dimitri Papaioannou, the concept creator of the ceremony, told The Associated Press.

The ceremony was a special moment for Greece and for organizers in Athens who have had criticism heaped on them for their apparent relaxed attitude towards preparations.

Indeed the final licks of paint may have been slapped on, and the last nails driven in at various venues around the city as the opening ceremony played out, but all will be forgiven and forgotten should Athens deliver its share of special Olympic moments.

There is a countless number of possible highlights in the 16-day encore, but for many a showdown in the pool between the four fastest men in history over 200 meters looms as this Olympics' first highly anticipated sporting spectacle.

The men's 200m freestyle sees U.S. swimming sensation Michael Phelps take on Aussie superstars Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett as well as defending champion, Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband.

Indeed Phelps has been generating most of the pre-Olympic press. The 19-year-old is vying to break fellow countryman Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games.

Unprecedented security
The attack on Israeli athletes cast a shadow of terrorism over Munich and fears of terror strikes at Athens has led to unprecedented security costing organizers around $1.5 billion and involving over 70,000 personnel.

Indeed, Greek taxpayers are also staring at a huge bill. Officials say the Games will exceed 6 billion euros ($7.2 billion) and some analysts say it could hit a staggering 10 billion euros ($12 billion), including the $1.5bn security costs.

But security officials are confident the arrangements -- which include batteries of Patriot surface-to-air missiles and surveillance aircraft -- will keep athletes, officials and spectators safe during the Games.

Apart from terrorism fears the other blight is drugs.

Already there have been a wave of positive doping cases amongst athletes from several countries, most prominently the United States.

Ian Thorpe takes on Phelps in the 200m freestyle.
Greek fans were shocked after a test no-show by Greece's top sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou that could spell the end of their Olympic campaign. They faces an IOC drugs tribunal on Monday. (Full story)

Athens is the first Olympic Games at which a tough new, unified doping code has been in force and officials say they are beginning to claw back in the fight against doping.

Even before the opening ceremony the action had kicked off, with football first round matches and archery ranking rounds playing out before the Opening Ceremony.

And Iraq has created one of the first stories of the Games, with the men's football team stunning Portugal 4-2 in their opening encounter. (Full story)

Athens officials admit they are not hoping to trump the model Sydney set four years ago.

Instead they were aiming to deliver a well-run, honestly contested and safe Games that had finally returned home.

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