Olympic leak ‘unfortunate’
Olympic Games organizers yesterday expressed their regret over a report in a British tabloid newspaper revealing details about the Olympic opening ceremony, but stressed that the «magic of the ceremony» would not be lost. According to the report published by the Sunday Mirror, the event will involve the Olympic Stadium in Maroussi being filled with water, a «comet» shooting through the stadium and lighting the five Olympic rings, Olympic athletes emerging from a «river,» and many other spectacles. The publication of the report was described as «unfortunate» by Alternate Culture Minister Fanni Palli-Petralia, who said she knew nothing about the planned August 13 ceremony which officials of the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee (ATHOC) had been instructed to keep secret. ATHOC officials said they were seeking to identify the source of the leak. They stressed, however, that the details of the ceremony revealed in the British tabloid, which it said would last three to four hours, were only part of a much larger show.
