But will Athens be ready in time...?

As the organisers of Athens 2004 search for relief from an avalanche of negative publicity, they can take heart from the experiences in Sydney - site of what were widely acknowledged as the most successful of modern Games.

John Coates, Australian Olympic committee president, was happy to admit: 'If you were to go back and look at the publicity we got in the year leading into the Games, you could be excused for thinking they might not have happened. That's part and parcel of an Olympics. 'The criticisms in Australia were more in some of the management areas but there were as big or bigger headlines than the Greeks are getting now on construction.'

But, putting aside concerns over the building of facilities, such as the handball stadium at Faliro, the catalogue of errors at test events so far in Athens match Sydney's. BUSES taking the South Koreans and Ukrainians from the new airport to hotels near the rowing course got lost.

Still, as Coates predicts, it will probably be all right on the night. Like all good Greek tragedy.