Saturday, August 14
Greeks puzzled, betrayed by sprint hero
ATHENS, Greece - The woman stood under the caldron that was supposed to be lit by her country's Jack Armstrong, her country's Lance Armstrong, and addressed a shame that was swirling with the dust being kicked up by an Oklahoma-like prairie wind.
``He is a good boy,'' Athanassia Papastylianou said of Kostas Kenteris.
This was one track and field fan who would not get swept up in the dust storm, not when she could hold fast to her three articles of faith.
``I believe he is clean,'' Papastylianou said. ``I believe he will run. I believe he will win the gold medal.''
She is a Greek. She is a mother. She is a believer.
``She is a romantic,'' said Vacilis Nikolaou, her 30-year-old son-in-law.The last romantic of the 28th Olympiad.
``In the Olympics,'' Nikolaou said, ``every athlete is cheating.''
Kenteris and his training partner, Katerina Thanou, did no favors to themselves, their sport and their country when they went on their intercontinental Greek odyssey of missed drug tests and mysterious motorcycle mishaps, an odyssey that dead-ends Monday in an International Olympic Committee hearing likely to eliminate the host nation's biggest star from the Games before he stretches his first hamstring.
Kenteris had come out of nowhere to win the 200-meter gold in Sydney, instantly inviting a most familiar Olympic guest, that dreaded cloud of suspicion. Suspicion led to a suspension, handed down by a Greek Olympic Committee that wouldn't excuse the missed tests, and couldn't even hand a go-straight-to-the-starting-line card to national heroes hospitalized after an apparent motorcycle crash.
This much is certain: Kenteris and Thanou had better give the IOC a story like the one Shaquille O'Neal once gave for missing practice - ``The cow truck flipped over and there was milk all over the highway,'' Shaq said before moving on to the fish truck, cereal truck, chicken truck and pig truck.
They also might want to ask Marion Jones for Johnnie Cochran's cell number. When a teenage Jones failed to show up for a drug test, Cochran got her suspension overturned.
``If this happened in the USA,'' said Michael Stephonopoulos, a 32-year-old Athens resident, ``of course they would've covered it up. But we're a small country, so that doesn't happen.''
Under the caldron Sunday, this was a burning issue among many Greeks walking to and from events. They didn't even need prompting from Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, to pose the following question: Under any circumstances, would American officials have kicked out their biggest star - a Michelle Kwan, for instance - on the first day of the Salt Lake Games?
``Yes, I think they would have,'' said a Greek father of three who declined to give his name. ``Some American athletes have already been suspended. I don't think nationality has anything to do with it.''
``I don't think they would kick out a big American star,'' Nikolaou said. ``It's all about power and money.''
``I'm not sure,'' said Michael Vasoulas, a 38-year-old Athens resident. ``Marion Jones is here, but (Tim) Montgomery is not.''
``If the press put the same pressure on the IOC about famous American athletes,'' said Stephonopoulos, ``the whole American team might be banned.''With those randomly surveyed, the only clear consensus involved the state of your average Greek's mind. Kenteris was a cover boy, a billboard boy, a champion with a ferry ship bearing his name. Kenteris had ended a drought that would warm any Cubs or Red Sox fan's heart: He was the first Greek man to win a medal in a running event since the 1896 Games.
``People may be surprised,'' Kenteris said in Sydney, ``but I came here to win. Greece has finally arrived in athletics.''
And just when athletics finally arrived in Greece, Kenteris wouldn't stop running.
``I feel very sad,'' said Papastylianou's 32-year-old daughter, Sophia.
``I feel very upset,'' said Elias Leontis, 32, of Athens.
``If he's guilty,'' Stephonopoulos said, ``Kenteris has betrayed the love and the trust of the Greek people. He should take back his gold medal. He was a hero, but then he wouldn't be a hero anymore.''
The IOC will make the final call Monday, after Greek officials did the dirty work for them. The sprinters and/or their lawyers will plead their case. One Olympic volunteer said that no matter the outcome, ``we're not going to let this ruin the celebration of our country.''
Athanassia Papastylianou, the romantic, was putting her money on her local favorite, Kenteris.
``I love him,'' she said. ``But either way, the world's not going to end.''
She was standing under the caldron Kenteris was supposed to light. It was burning. The Games were moving on.
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