SHE’LL BE GOIN’ FOR THE GOLD

It’s the same language, but sometimes you need an Australian-to-English translator.

Lisa Leslie, the Spark star who is playing in her second Olympics, ran into Australian basketball star Lauren Jackson, who offered a friendly greeting.

“How you goin?” Jackson said.

“I said, ‘What?’ ” Leslie said. “I thought she was asking me where I was going, or how I was going to get there. I’m thinking, we’re on an elevator!

“So I said, ‘What?’ to her three times, and then I realized, it’s like how am I doing. So I said, ‘Oh, I’m fine, fine!’

“Now I’ve heard it a hundred times, and I’m like, ‘How are you goin?’

“It’s like a different language. It’s not difficult, but sometimes I keep asking, ‘What?’ ”

The U.S. opened against South Korea today.

IT’S ALL GREEK TO HER AND THAT’S A GOOD THING

The projected savior of the 2004 Athens Games is a woman named Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki. She was put in charge of a sinking ship in May, after IOC visits to Athens indicated that the home of the ancient Games was in no shape to put on the modern ones. She is the wife of a wealthy shipbuilder and is working without a salary, but with direct mandates from Juan Antonio Samaranch and a direct-report line to Greece’s prime minister.

She met with key members of the U.S. press earlier this week, and stressed that she must get this job done, and done correctly, because, “For Greece, Olympism is life.”