Raducan agrees to film on her life

Raducan tested positive for the banned stimulant pseudoephedrine after clinching her gold on September 21.

The drug entered the petite gymnast’s system after Romania’s team physician Ioachin Oana gave her an over-the-counter cold pill on the evening before the competition.

Raducan was allowed to keep her team gold and silver in the vault however. Oana was banned for four years by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Athens face tougher task

ATHENS: Hosting the 2004 Athens Olympics has become a tougher task after the success in Sydney, Gianna Angelopoulou-Daskalaki, president of organising committee ATHOC said here on Tuesday.

Greece will be up against it to match the effort put in by Australian organisers, she added.

Angelopoulou-Daskalaki said she believed Athens 2004 would be the best games ever, but admitted Sydney had placed the bar very high.

Prime Minister Costas Simitis said at a ceremony welcoming back Greek athletes in Athens that they would prove a small country could organise the games. Greece has just 10 million people.

Athens is behind schedule and Angelopoulou-Daskalaki admitted that. “We have lost three years”, said Angelopoulou-Daskalaki, who has only led ATHOC since May after the resignation or sacking of her predecessors.

“We have a marathon ahead of us but we will have to runit like a sprint,” she said.

Meanwhile, a ceremony at Athens airport, including city mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos and the entire Greek cabinet, welcomed back their athletes from the Games.

The four Greek gold medallists carried the Olympic flag given to the country following the closing ceremony in Sydney.

Pyrros Dimas, gold medallist in weightlifting at three consecutive Olympics, gave the flag to Avromopoulos, who praised the athletes for their success, including a best-ever haul of 13 medals.