The 2000 Sydney Olympics were always going to be a hard act to follow as the organisers of next year's Athens Games are already discovering.

The Millennium Games went off without any major hitches and set a new standard of excellence that all future hosts will be judged against.

After problems at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Sydney left nothing to chance, mobilising an army of professionals to stage what the then president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Juan Antonio Samaranch, dubbed the best Games ever.

Athens has not fared well so far in comparisons with Sydney but there was some comforting news for the Greeks as they reached the 12-month countdown to their 2004 Games.

For all the gloating and chest-beating that went on in Sydney after the Games, things were not quite so rosy a year before the big event.

As Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates reminded reporters on Monday: "If you were to go back and look at the publicity we got in the year leading into the Games, you could be excused for thinking they might not have happened.

"That's just part and parcel of the Olympic Games.

Although most of the stadiums had already been built and the infrastructure was in place, the mood in Australia's biggest city was one of pessimism.

The sense of national pride that followed the awarding of the Games in 1993 had been replaced by bitterness and anger fuelled by a year of ugly scandals and rows.

SCANDALS

Accusations of bribery were still thick in the air after the Salt Lake City scandal and, while Sydney was officially cleared of any comparable wrongdoing, Australian Olympic officials did not escape censure altogether.

They admitted they agreed to pay money for sports projects to two African delegates on the eve of the 2000 vote and Australia's IOC member Phil Coles was lucky to escape expulsion after he was reprimanded for accepting lavish hospitality.

Sydney's organising committee (SOCOG) became embroiled in a row with the IOC over image, which was ironic at the time since the international body's own reputation was being dragged into the gutter by a series of public sackings and the resignations of top executives.

The Olympic ideals of fair play and sportsmanship had been lost on an Australian public who were quickly stripped of their enthusiasm after it was revealed SOCOG had secretly siphoned off the best tickets for rich individuals and companies.

At the same time, taxpayers were told the bill for staging the Games had blown up significantly from earlier forecasts and political rumblings were growing louder by the day.

Aboriginal leaders were calling on the country's indigenous population to use the Games as a platform for protest at government denials that Aboriginal children taken from their families were a "stolen generation".

Tens of thousands of well-meaning volunteers had been rejected because of an oversupply of helpers and the ideological promise of a "green Games" was starting to wear thin.

Environmental groups and angry residents, angry at the construction of a volleyball stadium at Bondi Beach, scuffled with police, saying the construction would be an ecological disaster at one of the country's most famous natural landmarks.

BIG PARTY

Desperate to restore public confidence, SOCOG threw a big party to celebrate the 12-month countdown, reassuring everyone that the Games would be a huge success.

They had plenty of reasons to be confident despite the gloomy mood in Sydney.

Ninety per cent of the venues were ready and fully tested with the few remaining sites due to be completed well before the start of the Games in September 2000.

The main Olympic stadium at Homebush Bay had already been in full operation for six months and passed all tests with flying colours, regularly accommodating crowds of more than 100,000.

The specially built railway line was successful, shifting big crowds to and from the Homebush Bay site with relative ease even when several major test events were held simultaneously.

Financially, the Games were in good shape. Ticket sales and sponsorship receipts had hit record levels and TV rights and the sale of consumer products were on course to hit their targets.

Athens organisers' preparations are not as advanced as Sydney's were at the same time but they can still take the heart from the lessons of four years ago.

Even a few days before the Olympics there were doubts about whether the city could pull it off with critics warning of big price hikes, an accommodation crisis and gridlocked traffic.

But the doomsayers got it wrong and the Games were a huge success.

Most people in Sydney would sympathise with Athenians but believe all the problems will be forgotten once the competitors take centre stage in a year's time.

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