This Week’s

By the end of the Athens Olympics will the medals and athletic performances outshine the controversies that almost overshadowed these games?

It was, actually, an Olympian effort just to get the 2004 Summer Games going. Before they began in Athens last week, there had been numerous scandals, rumors of bribes and whatnot, abundant venue construction delays, not to mention potential terror attacks that could disrupt the games for the third time in 30 years. (Munich 1972 and Atlanta 1996 were the other two.) Then, of course, there’s the neverending scandal with an assortment of allegations regarding steroid use and other banned substances.

Just the other day two Greek athletes were suspended from competing because they failed to show up for mandatory drug tests. How embarrassing for the host nation if they are banned?

Whatever happened to athletes — professional and otherwise —devoting themselves to their sport and sportsmanship without artificial performance enhancement?

Don’cha long for the good ol’ days when the only thing that might boost an athletic performance were laborious workouts or perhaps a strong, prevailing wind, not some concoction developed in a
laboratory?

The International Olympics Committee (IOC) indeed breathed a sigh of relief when the first event went off trouble-free on August 11 as the reputable women’s American soccer team defeated the Greek ladies, 3-0, two full days before the pageantry of last Friday’s opening ceremonies.

Preparations for this Olympics had more prob-lems than any in recent memory. (A dubious distinction that might be surpassed if New York City is the site of the 2012 Summer Games.) But when the stadiums, new metro lines, beautified city squares and vast security infrastructure were finally unveiled at the last minute, it was evident where the spent billions went. Add those enormous outlays and cost overruns to the less-than-projected attendance in the first week and, unless there’s a dramatic surge in tourism tied to the games, Greece will incur greater financial losses than any previous host city.

Anticipating a terror attack, the security for these games is unparalleled: 70,000 personnel, in addition to 400 American Special Forces, over 1,000 surveillance cameras, radiation-detection devices, Greek warships on 24-hour patrols and the U.S. Sixth Fleet walking the beat (so to speak) in the Mediterranean Sea. Patriot missiles installed at five key locations.

Even nations living with constant terror and violence — like Iraq and Palestine — have athletes competing. Iraq has 25 athletes at these games, compared to four in 2000 and four score in 1980. No Iraqi athlete has ever earned an Olympic medal and it’s highly unlikely anyone’ll get one this summer. There is, however, a consolation for this group of Iraqi participants — they won’t have to face the wrath of Saddam Hussein’s sons — Uday and Qusay, both now dead — who reportedly tortured and humiliated losing athletes upon their return home.

And the term "Palestinian athlete" may be deemed an oxymoron as much as jumbo shrimp. The only thing athletic Palestinians do is suicide bombing to kill as many Israelis as possible.

And how can the IOC, which previously banned countries whose politics was offensive (i.e., South Africa’s apartheid), not condemn – or even dump — the Iranian team after it’s judo competitor announced his refusal to face an Israeli athlete since he does not recognize that nation’s existence?

The hackneyed premise that the Olympics unites the world is naive. Cold War politics and other international dilemmas have affected the modern games for years, as much as the doping scandal and international terrorism do today. For decades it was apparent that Eastern and Western judges were less than objective as they tended to slant their scores in favor of athletes from their respective allied nations.

Cynics say the Olympic games are nothing more than an excuse for world-class athletes to get together and sweat.

Nevertheless, far and above the controversies, the ancient spirit of the Olympics triumphs. Though it’s nearly 2,800 years since the competition was born, the Olympics remains an exhibition of exceptionally talented athletes contending for the sheer joy of winning as much as they are vying for gold and glory for themselves and their countries.

Somewhere the mythological gods are smiling.

What Homer wrote in "The Odyssey" is still the primary objective of most Olympians: "There is no greater glory for a man in all life than what he wins with his own feet and hands."