Tensions between business interests who are pressing for a piece of the Olympic pie and the head of the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee broke out over the weekend, with Sunday newspapers carrying a statement attributed to Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki in which she claimed that she would not submit to «blackmail.»

The statement, attributed to «private discussions» or what Angelopoulos-Daskalaki «told her aides,» appeared to be in response to demands from business groups that Athens 2004 award plump contracts related to organizing the Olympic volunteers, providing information technology and printing the Athens 2004 publications. As many such companies have close ties with political interests and also need to obtain funds to offset losses from the stock exchange bust, Angelopoulos-Daskalaki is said to have spoken of «specific businessmen and their representatives using unorthodox methods.»

Athens 2004's head is then said to have warned these unnamed interests: «I will not accept blackmail from anyone, because I do not owe anyone anything.»