History and controversy convene in Athens

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is about national pride, pageantry and anticipation.

It’s not, however, about athletic competition -- at least not in the eyes of NBC’s Bob Costas.

“I think my quote in the past was that it’s part United Nations gathering and part Thanksgiving Day parade, so why don’t they just have Kofi Annan and Mary Hart do it?” Costas says. He nonetheless will assume hosting duties alongside Katie Couric when NBC and its cable affiliates begin broadcasting the XXVIII Summer Olympics from Athens on Friday.

“I’ve always felt that it’s kind of ironic that perhaps the most-watched thing, at least in most Olympics, is the opening ceremony,” Costas says. “It’s where a first impression is created. But the real hosting of the Olympics begins on Day Two, when the competition begins. I think of my real job and what I really do as happening when I get behind a desk” at a sporting event.

“But I’m going to keep doing this opening ceremony until I get it right -- until we get it right.”

These Games are noteworthy for several reasons, not the least of which is location. The ancient Olympic Games were created in Athens in 776 BC as a religious festival celebrating the Greek god Zeus (and then were banned in AD 393). Reborn in that city as the modern Games in 1896, they return there this year for the first time since then. Costas, a Greek history buff, is intrigued.

“I think it has a lot of meaning,” he says. “I like history, period, whether it’s sports or any other aspect, and I especially like Olympic history. And there would be no greater place that would be as fertile for that as Greece -- that has as rich a history. Plus, you’ve just got all the history of the nation itself: the mythology, the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the old Olympic Stadium. So you’ve got all that, and then my father’s side of the family is entirely Greek, so I feel a personal connection.”

More recent history, too, will have an effect on these Olympic Games. Opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq, Costas says, will probably manifest itself in the reception for U.S. athletes during the opening ceremony.

“My guess is that it will be mostly respectful [with] a smattering of negative response,” he says. “Now on the other hand, I think if you had a repeat of the Americans doing what the relay team guys did in Sydney [in 2000], I think that there would be a very harsh reaction for that. You know what I’m talking about: that kind of preening stuff that they did, the kind of strutting around stuff.

“I think people in general -- leave the world situation aside -- I think reasonable people have very short patience for that kind of stuff anyway. Then you throw in the kind of ‘ugly American’ perception -- I think we can all do without that.”

Another potential dark side to the Games is a developing doping scandal that has rocked the U.S. track and field team. Under increased scrutiny, some athletes are facing Olympic disqualification and even possible lifetime bans.

“Anyone who has followed sports over the last many years realizes that there has been a significant amount of performance-enhancing drug use,” Costas says. “It isn’t confined to any one sport, but track and field is a place where you’ll definitely find it.

“To think that performance-enhancing drugs isn’t among the factors is to, like, check your brain at the door,” he says.

Back on the field -- or in this case, in the pool -- of competition, history could be made at these Games. U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps, slated to compete in eight events, has the chance to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in one Olympics, set in 1972 in Munich, Germany.

“It’s going to be very hard to do, but it’s still an interesting proposition. And it’s not just Americans who can challenge him. You know, Ian Thorpe is still in the picture; the Australians have a strong team.”

Costas says there also will be athletes from countries who have no chance of winning but will consider themselves successful merely by competing.

“There are a lot of nations at an Olympics for whom the big moment is simply marching into the Olympic Stadium.... Their achievement is in just conquering whatever their circumstances are, their countries’ circumstances are, to be there and strive for some kind of personal best.”

George Dickie writes for Tribune Media Services.

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XXVIII Summer Olympics

When: Opening ceremony, 8 p.m. to midnight Friday. For complete Olympic event listings, see Sports Highlights, Page 5.

Where: NBC

Rating: TV-G (suitable for all ages)