Party Is Hot for Wrong Reason

Chief Olympic organizer Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki threw a party at her hillside villa Saturday after Athens’ lavish opening ceremony had gone off without a hitch.

The party, however, was a disaster.

Fireworks set off at the mansion caused a fire in the nearby wooded area, burning out of control for nearly an hour, police said.

Sixty firefighters were called to the scene near Filothei, about two miles north of the city, and eventually put out the blaze.

No one was hurt.

Associated Press

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It appeared Saturday that the flame in the caldron at Olympic Stadium went out, then came back on.

But Athens 2004 organizers said appearances had been deceiving.

“It didn’t go out,” said Michalis Zacharatos, a senior Athens 2004 official.

“The intensity of the flame was lowered because we were making some adjustments. It never went out,” he said, adding, “I hope if you have anyone saying that, that there is a photograph.”

Zacharatos said organizers constantly monitored the flame: “We have a live feed on our televisions always of the flame.”

-- Alan Abrahamson

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The year was unfolding in near-perfect fashion for Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium. She won the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year, the Australian Open. She also won the next important tournament, at Indian Wells, and lost only once in her first five events.

Then came April, and one of the most dominant players on the women’s tour practically vanished.

Henin-Hardenne was stricken with a debilitating virus and played only two matches in one tournament, losing in the second round of the French Open.

Concerns about her immediate future have been eased, though, by her appearance here at the Olympics. Henin-Hardenne will be top seeded as she faces Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic in the opening round. These are Henin-Hardenne’s first Olympics and she has taken her appearance seriously, turning down the chance to carry the flag for her country in Friday’s opening ceremony, conserving her energy for the tournament, which begins today.

Henin-Hardenne, 22, spoke about her difficult last few months at a news conference Saturday at the Politia Tennis Center.

“When you’re injured -- you have pain in your arm and shoulder and feel in good shape, that’s OK,” she said. “But I was feeling tired all the time. I wanted to sleep all the time. Usually I have a lot of energy.”

A few weeks ago, she started feeling better and her doctors assured her there would be no risk. Henin-Hardenne decided about 10 days ago to play here, then defend her U.S. Open title.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am right now,” she said. “I finally feel like I was before being sick.”

-- Lisa Dillman

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Former President George Bush was at the softball complex Saturday morning, meeting and greeting the U.S. team. The players said his granddaughters watched part of their game. ... The Italian softball team apparently thought it had a solution to Natasha Watley’s slap-and-run batting attack. The left-handed U.S. batter is so fast that, if she makes any sort of contact, she probably will beat the throw to first. In the fifth inning, Italy tried one of the stranger defenses ever seen, in which it placed the left fielder just a few feet inside the foul line and only several yards behind third base. Watley, of course, hit a triple to the gap in left-center. ... New right fielder Jessica Mendoza, a Stanford graduate from Camarillo, said that everybody told her she’d be fine once she got past her first at-bat. And fine she was, tripling in a run for a 2-0 U.S. lead.

-- Bill Dwyre