Athens’ Words Ring Hollow

Although Athens won a public vote of confidence Tuesday from the International Olympic Committee, behind the scenes several influential members expressed serious doubts about whether the political will and organization skills needed to organize the 2004 Summer Games exist in Greece.

If substantial progress is not shown by next summer, when longtime IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch steps down, these members said, alternatives could be considered. A Los Angeles bid for the 2012 Games, announced last week, features a package of venues already so complete that it could easily be ready by 2004. Seoul could also be ready on short notice.

Speaking on condition of anonymity and stressing that it remains most likely the 2004 Games will be held as scheduled in Athens, one influential IOC member said after Greek organizers updated the IOC’s Executive Board, “There is no substance” to their offered reports of progress.

The delegate added: “I think many people agree.”

Said another, also preferring anonymity and wondering if Greek officials fully comprehend the magnitude of the task ahead: “How do you talk to them?”

Athens’ preparations since winning the Games in 1997 have been marked by revolving-door leadership, by messy public spats between the government and the Athens 2004 organizing committee and by delays in scores of needed public works and construction projects.

In April, Samaranch said the situation was the worst organizational debacle he’d seen in his years as IOC president. He gave the Greeks until the end of the year to show change.

Stung by the criticism, the Greeks brought back as head of Athens 2004 the woman who’d led the bid that won Athens the Games, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki. Prime Minister Costas Simitis took personal responsibility for overseeing the government’s $3-billion investment in infrastructure.

Last month, an IOC inspection team headed by Belgium’s Jacques Rogge said conditions had markedly improved and declared the Games would be held in Athens.

In an exclusive interview this week with The Times, Samaranch was even more definitive: “In this moment, I am sure the Games will be in Athens. If the Games are not in Athens, there will not be Games.”

Samaranch issued the scolding in April to effect constructive change. He has long been a strong supporter of the Athens Games, believing they can offer a unique blend of sports, culture and history.

Angelopoulos-Daskalaki came out from the briefing before the Executive Board on Tuesday to say Samaranch had told her that Athens 2004 and the Greek government had his “full confidence.” She said he also had told her, “It will be a great Games in Athens. You are working very hard.”

In an appearance before the TV cameras, she exulted, “Athens is back on track!”

Speaking first in Greek, then in English, she said, “What we have to say is we will not lose any day. But of course,” she added, launching into the catch phrase suggested in a recently produced Athens 2004 briefing book for media strategy, “we have a marathon of preparation.”

Asked if she encountered any pessimism from the Executive Board, she said, “Actually, there were no concerns.” She then said she had spent time “clarifying” questions from the board--about -- the location of one of the media housing complexes, the distance between the rowing course and the athletes’ village, plans to restrict billboard displays in Athens and the finalization of the competition schedule during the Games.

She also said the Executive Board had offered her best wishes on her 45th birthday.

Keen to hear for themselves that bids would be let, contracts signed, roads poured and buildings built on time, some IOC members left the update shaking their heads.

“I don’t see any progress,” said one. “They keep saying one thing was done yesterday, another is getting done today, another is going to get done tomorrow. But there’s no substance.”

The member added: “If everything moves, then we will have no worries. If, as we’re concerned, everything stays the same way--with people resigning [from Athens 2004], with all this talking, with nothing happening--then things will have to be reviewed at an appropriate time and place.”

In another development Tuesday, the IOC warned athletes against using food supplements that might contain nandrolone or other banned steroids and called on U.S. authorities in particular to ensure stricter regulation and proper labeling.

Many athletes in recent years have blamed supplements for positive nandrolone tests. U.S. shotputter C.J. Hunter, husband of Sydney Games track star Marion Jones, suggested that supplements were responsible for his four failed drug tests last summer.

The IOC’s athletes and medical commissions reiterated Tuesday that competitors are ultimately responsible for drugs found in their bodies.