International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge praised the athletes, saying: “you have touched our hearts by your performance, your joys, and your tears.”

Unforgettable, dream games

Then came the words Greece was waiting to hear: “unforgettable, dream games.” Emotions dominated the Olympic Games’ 17 days, even more this time, since they were held in their birthplace, 108 years after the first modern Olympiad in Athens. Athletes followed the mythical ancient footsteps of the first distance marathon runner, who dropped dead shortly after returning from battle. There was shot put in Ancient Olympia, archery and marathon finishes in the Panathinaiko stadium, used for the first modern games in 1896, not to mention bicycle races around the Acropolis and the triathlon on the picturesque coastline of Vouliagmeni.

The first Olympics in Athens was not about steroids, stimulants and other drugs, but this time around drug use dominated the events, as never before have so many athletes been disqualified for violating doping regulations. Doping scandals struck even before the Games began and continued through the final day.

A record two dozen athletes were caught, with seven losing medals, and possibly more to come as test results roll in. “Each positive test is a blessing for us because it’s eliminating the cheats and protecting the clean athletes,” Rogge said. “The more we find, the better.”

Scandals and controversies

Even though the opening ceremony in Athens was over-shadowed by the humiliation felt among Greeks when star sprinters Kostas Kenderis and Katerina Thanou pulled out of the Games after playing cat-andmouse with anti-doping officials, and reportedly faking a motorcycle accident that landed them in the hospital.

Apart from drugs, there were also judging controversies with Germany stripped of two equestrian gold medals because the ruling body FEI violated its own rules. There were also allegations that gymnastics judges gave South Korean Yang Tae Young unfairly low marks that cost him a gold medal, which ended up going to American Paul Hamm. Even the final event, the men’s marathon, was marked with controversy just an hour before the closing ceremony when a defrocked Irish priest bolted from the crowd and grabbed the leader, Brazil’s Vanderlei de Lima, pushing him off the track into a line of spectators about three miles from the finish. De Lima recovered from the shock, but not before the incident ended up costing him the gold medal. He settled for the bronze after a protest by his federation was rejected. “If that spectator hadn’t jumped in front of me in the middle of the race, who knows what would have happened. Maybe I would have won,” said the heartbroken de Lima. “It disturbed me a lot.”

The spectator incident came shortly after Rogge poured praise on the organizers, saying among other things that “security had been flawless.” The IOC president later presented de Lima with the Pierre de Coubertin Medal in recognition of “his exceptional demonstration of fair play and Olympic values.”

The awakening of Asia

The Olympics also saw the rise of China, Japan and their neighbors in what the IOC called the “awakening of Asia,” positioning themselves for the 2008 Games in Beijing. In the end, the United States won the most medals with 103, 35 of them gold. Russia finished second with 92, including 27 gold and China was third with 63 medals, 32 gold. These Games were about incredible winners such as US swimmer Michael Phelps, who walked away with six gold medals, a silver and a bronze.

“I wanted to come in here and I wanted to win one gold medal. And I did it the first night,” Phelps said. “So, from then on out I was here to have fun … to represent my country as best I could.”

Nowhere else but the Olympics could Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj win the 1,500-meter gold after failing twice before, and go on to win the 5,000-meter race. Briton Kelly Holmes made Olympic history taking home gold in the 800 meter and 1,500 meter middle-distance double, while Kenenisa Bekele ruled the 10,000 meter in succession of his mentor, Haile Gebrselassie. Americans ruled the sprints, from newcomers Justin Gatlin, taking the 100 meter, Shawn Crawford winning the 200 meter, and Jeremy Wariner the 400 meter.

Argentina ended the run of the US basketball dream team and claimed football gold. All told, 75 countries won medals at the Games.

Israel’s first gold

Windsurfer Gal Fridman won Israel’s first gold, saying he was going to return home and take it to the memorial in Tel Aviv for the 11 athletes and coaches slain at the 1972 Olympic in Munich.

Ahmed Al Maktoum, a wealthy sheik, gave the United Arab Emirates its first gold in trap shooting, while Taiwan achieved its first gold medal in taekwondo, the Domican Republic in men’s 400-meter hurdles, Chile in tennis and Georgia in judo. The American softball team won gold for their recently widowed coach, who returned home with their third consecutive Olympic title. Winless in nine previous summer Games, Paraguay took silver in men’s soccer, Eritea, a nation that did not exist a dozen years ago, won bronze in the 10,000 meters. There were also disappointments at the Athens Games and a lot of tears shed. Track star Marion Jones failed to meet up to her five medals at the Sydney Olympics and faltered in Athens under doping suspicion, leaving her without a medal. So did Briton Paula Radcliffe, who retired from the marathon and later collapsed mid-way through the 10,000-meter race.

Perhaps, however, the Athens Games will best be remembered for hosting the “unforgettable, dream Games.” Rogge praised the Greek people for defying skeptics and organizing a superb event, declaring, “You have won” at the closing ceremony.

“You have won by brilliantly meeting the tough challenge of holding the Games.” The Games, which started slowly in the first week with empty seats and vacant squares, as many Greeks were away on holiday, quickly filled up.

The second week, sports venues such as tennis, volleyball and basketball were filled with cheering fans and athletes from a record 202 countries, who roamed freely and joined in on the partying in a city that never sleeps. Rogge said Athens had pulled off an overall success despite concerns over construction delays, security threats and cost overruns.

Hungary’s bittersweet Olympic Games
”Never has a Hungarian reporter been in such a difficult situation as I am in at the moment,” said a reporter for Hungarian Television at the closing ceremonies of the XXVIII Summer Olympic Games. For Hungary, the Olympic Games were as much a success as they were a failure. Hungary took eight gold, six silver and three bronze medals, bringing the country to thirteenth place in the competition. Not bad for a country of 10 million inhabitants, although the country was steeped in doping accusations. Over the two week period, two gold medals, and one silver medal were removed from Hungarian competitors by the International Olympic Committee following suspected doping incidents. In all, five Hungarian competitors were suspected of doping, resulting in Hungary leading the list of all country’s for doping incidents.

The most significant Hungarian doping scandal was that of Róbert Fazekas, champion discus thrower. Dick Person of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said, in the European edition of International Herald Tribune that, “During the testing of the sportsman they found a plastic reservoir which contained unfamiliar urine.” Pál Schmidt, head of the Hungarian Olympic Committee responded to the statement by saying: “That kind of unproved accusation is unworthy of the president of WADA, and I will protest against it personally.” There were more pleasant surprises for Hungary, nevertheless. Fifteen-year-old Dániel Gyurta won the silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke, being the youngest swimmer to have ever won a silver medal in the sport.