When Athens Olympic chief Gianna Angelopoulos took up the torch at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Games in 2000 she was among the first to admit that Australia's success had left Greece with a hard act to follow.
Hailed as the "best Games ever" by outgoing International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch, Angelopoulos stressed that lessons had been learnt by Athens organisers underfire over delays in their own preparations.
Angelopoulos acknowledged Sydney as an inspiration and a challenge," and said in a statement after the closing ceremony that: "We have gained valuable knowledge from the extremely successful management of these Games."
Experts from Oz
One of the Greeks' first Australian imports was know-how from the 27th Olympiads top personnel.
Sydney's often controversial Olympics minister Michael Knight was swiftly drafted into the IOC's Coordination Commission overseeing Athens by Samaranch.
Knight, who held the dual role of minister and president of the Sydney Organising Committee was followed by the head of security at the 2000 Games, Peter Ryan.
In the wake of 911 terrorist attacks in the U.S. Athens found itself facing a new security environment and turned to the trusted former British policeman.
Working with the Greek defence ministry and police, Ryan has advised on the planning for an unprecedented operation, which saw the government sign off on a USD255 million security contract to a U.S.-led consortium in March.
The army of enthusiastic Aussie volunteers that won over Sydney visitors also left sceptics wondering if Greece, the smallest country to host a summer Games since Finland in the 1950s, would be able to meet the new benchmark.
Volunteers to the fore
"Volunteers have become a determining factor in the success of the Games," said Athens 2004 volunteer programme manager Olga Kikou.
"We learned from Sydney that volunteers need to understand their role in the organisation of the Games and feel important and useful.
"Therefore, we need to have the right number of volunteers so that certain areas won't be overstaffed and volunteers won't feel bored and lose their interest," said Kikou.
As a late-comer to the Eurozone and a country still seeking convergence with its European Union partners, Athens also looked back to the 1992 Games in Barcelona credited with sparking urban regeneration in Spain's second city.
The Greek government was quick to hand a series of showpiece architectural projects including a giant dome-like roof for the Olympic stadium to Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
Building on Barcelona
It was his visionary work on the Barcelona docks that was credited as one of the main Olympic legacy in the Catalan city.
"Barcelona took the opportunity of the Olympic Games to focus re-development efforts on particular areas, such as the waterfront. In the planning for 2004, the post-Games use has been central to every project," said an ATHOC spokesperson.
Organisers point to the redevelopment on the southern coast of the city at Faliron, where work is underway on a pedestrian bridge to open up the area to residents.
Following the Paralympics in September 2004 the Olympic village will be handed over to the publicly-owned Workers Housing Association, to create affordable homes for up to 10,000 people.
Officials also cite the decision to locate ATHOC's headquarters and the new weightlifting centre in rundown neighbourhoods in order to spur economic activity.
Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Knight warned the Greeks against wholesale copying of the Barcelona and Sydney.
"Every successful host city plays to its own strengths rather than tries to imitate other cities."
ATHOC claim their strength is Olympic heritage as the birthplace of the ancient Games and the scene of their 1896 revival.
"I think our goal of offering Games on a human scale coincides with the goal of the IOC not go grow the Games, to bring together the past history with modern facilities and modern technology will be a great legacy," said ATHOC director Spyros Capralos.
