Marvelous coverage, I thought. Much less xenophobic than in past years. Beautiful celebrations of Greece.
You have to admire the organizer, Gianna Angelopolous, the first woman to lead an Olympic committee, and one royally-successful butt-kicker..."The great things Greece can do...." 35,000 volunteers...
Jacques Rogge, IOC head, in Greek ... "Athens, you have won!"
The closing ceremony was all joy.
202 countries, 10,500 athletes, 40% of whom were women. 30,000 journalists.
And,
Government estimates over the past two weeks have put the price tag for the Olympics at nearly $10 billion. Officials have yet to make public a breakdown of the costs, other than to say that the bill for police training, bonuses, surveillance equipment and other security items is expected to come to at least $1.2 billion.
That would be four times the amount paid for security by Sydney, Australia, the host of the 2000 Summer Games.
