BBC SPORT | Other Sports | The Olympic art of diplomacy



By Sophie Brown BBC Sport Online

If medals were handed out for diplomacy, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki would be on the top step of the podium.

Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki
Angelopoulos-Daskalaki faces the media

As the president of the organising committee for the 2004 Athens Olympics, Angelopoulos-Daskalaki is currently having to fend off a lot of awkward questions.

Reports are rife that construction work is behind an already tight schedule and that the budget for infrastructure change has run out two years early.

Organisers say Athens will be ready

Greenpeace has accused organisers of abandoning promises designed to make this, like Sydney in 2000, an environmentally friendly Games.

And even the Greek government has warned the committee to speed up the preparations for next year's event, telling them "drastic action" may be needed.

But if she is under siege, Angelopoulos-Daskalaki was certainly not showing it on Thursday evening when she presided over the London launch of the Games.

A former MP, she frequently employed the politician's favourite device of answering a question that had not actually been asked.

She was direct and forceful when insisting that the Games would be ready yet charmingly vague when it came to a question of detail.

The Athens Games will blend the history and tradition with the modern face of our country

Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki

"We're ready to welcome the world," was her soundbite in a reply to a question about accommodation.

"What is good news is that the prime minister is heavily involved in this project," was how she batted away a question about her government's concern at the tight timetable of construction.

But she changed tack when asked by the BBC about the budget, using excessive detail to the extent that by the time she had finished, it was hard to remember the original question.

Angelopoulos-Daskalaki talked of how the Athens project was "moving from planning to implementation".

The Olympics are still almost two years off but pretty soon plans will have to turn into something concrete - literally, in the case of the building work.

The success of the Sydney Olympics both in terms of atmosphere and logistics, have given Athens a hard act to follow.

"Athens will be different - it will be unique," said Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, when asked how her city would match up.

But that is just what many are worried about.


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