Let the Games--and the Griping--Begin : Losers: Greeks are angry over not hosting the 100th anniversary of the modern Games. Other cities say the IOC decision was motivated by profit.

Many Greeks reacted with anger and disbelief today after learning that the Olympics, which began in Greece in 776 BC and were revived here in 1896, would not return home for the 100th anniversary of the modern Games in 1996.

People in Athens and the four other candidate cities accused the International Olympic Committee of choosing Atlanta because of the lure of big profits.

“I think Coca-Cola money and CNN News helped Atlanta,” said Anne Johnston, a member of the Toronto Olympic Committee.

In Belgrade, the first to go out when the IOC began to vote, the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug commented: “The IOC was guided by the very thing it criticized during the entire campaign--the profit it would earn from the Games in Atlanta.”

A Melbourne street party turned into a wake at the news.

“We’re pretty shocked. If it hadn’t been Melbourne, it should have been Athens,” disappointed party-goer Tom Kontaxis said.

In Manchester, Mike Cuerden, press spokesman for the English city’s Olympic bid committee, commented: “I think big money did play a big part in the decision. American prime-time television and the money it will bring in must have been a major factor in the minds of the IOC.”

Atlanta has said it expects to spend $1.2 billion on staging the Games, with a projected revenue of $1.4 billion.

But the keenest disappointment was felt in Athens.

Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis had said the massive work that would have to be done before the Games would provide the incentive to drag Greece’s shattered economy from the abyss.

About $2.5 billion was to be pumped into rebuilding the Greek capital’s decaying infrastructure.

The day before the IOC vote, the conservative daily Apogevmatini said: “We say Athens will save the Olympics from a trend towards commercialization and the Olympics will save Athens from a slow death.”

Greeks in the street expressed anger and dismay at the decision by the IOC to turn its back on the birthplace of the Olympics.

“It’s very disappointing,” Athens businessman Andreas Zervos said. “It proves the IOC pays no attention to tradition or culture but only money.

BITTER? THEY’RE NOT BITTER A sampling of the reaction to the IOC’s decision to award the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta:

“It’s not fair. Melbourne had an impeccable bid and America has won it. If it was Greece you could understand it, but it wasn’t. American money has done it, and it’s a pity. It’s about time they came down to the Southern Hemisphere.” --Steve Crabb, tourism minister for the Australian state of Victoria .

“It’s very disappointing. It proves the IOC pays no attention to tradition or culture but only money. Greece deserved the Games for the sake of history.” -- Athens businessman Andreas Zervos.

“I think Coca-Cola money and CNN News helped Atlanta.” --Anne Johnston, a member of the Toronto Olympic Committee.

“In the long run it will perhaps prove better that we did not get them. They deserve Atlanta, the capital of Coca-Cola and of American crime.” --Greek sportscaster Elias Basinas .