Timely tribute to timeless tradition

ATHENS, Greece - Alexander the Great dropped in on the Olympics Friday night. So did the goddess Nike, Hercules, Pegasus. Plus 72,000 mortals who waved their keychain flashlights exactly when they were supposed to, including British prime minister Tony Blair, who was just across the aisle, tapping his foot to the music.

And so what if the Opening Ceremony clocked out at 3:26, from first drum beat to closing fireworks? There were 202 nations to march and 4,000 years of Greek history to get through.

It was a boffo show, done with fire and water and homage to the classics that was classy, and almost haunting, with a solitary drummer in a darkened stadium, beating his drum in unison with a figure from ancient Olympia. The cast of thousands was literally aged 7 to 70, and the ceremony guide dutifully noted 51,443 phone calls were required to recruit them all, which seems a lot, unless you're a teenager.

There may be drugs at track and field, and automatic weapons at the airport, but the Opening Ceremony never loses its popularity. Which is why this is the only night 2 billion Earthlings are tuned to the same channel. It is meticulously planned pomp and circumstance, with some of the traditions from curious places. The torch relay, for example, was the Nazis' idea in 1936. This year, it was carried by 11,000 different bearers - Tom Cruise and Sylvester Stallone among them -- through five continents and 26 countries.

And last in line was 1996 sailing gold medalist Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, putting the flame to a long, narrow cauldron. And would it be quibbling to suggest it vaguely looked like he was lighting a cigar?

He joins an exclusive and diverse club. Muhammad Ali in Atlanta. An archer in Barcelona who nailed the cauldron with an arrow from 100 yards. A boy in Tokyo who was born the day the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Before the flame came the parade of the nations, a trudging of feet now so long it must have seemed to the Greeks the Persian army had returned. For nearly two hours they marched in, with Saint Lucia at the beginning and Greece at the end, and Burkina Faso and Guinea-Bissau in between.

The two Koreas walked together. Afghanistan marched in its first women ever. The U.S. team received a lukewarm applause -- touchy times being what they are, few American flags appeared in the stands. But Iraq got a standing ovation.

India, a nation of 1 billion, came in with 86 athletes. Cuba, a nation of 11 million, came in with 171.

And the highest structure in town this side of the Parthenon was 7-foot-6 Yao Ming in a red blazer, carrying the flag for China.

The Greeks had gotten to this night the hard way, but maybe that comes with the territory. Olympic president Jacques Rogge mentioned Friday how this is the land of Demosthenes, an ancient Greek who became a great orator by practicing with rocks in his mouth.

Athens has been doubted for years. Some last touches are not finished, and you get the idea they never will be. But Friday's ceremony was a triumph of ideas, which is what this place was about 2,500 years ago.

And the hosts could now laugh at the incessant carping about their do-at-the-last-second style that had driven the International Olympic Committee bananas. The emcee of the pre-ceremony show brought a hammer, pretending to drive in a few last nails.

In the end, though, there had been nothing left undone for the Opening Ceremony, which was, in turn, both spectacular and dignified. That would include Athens Olympic leader Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, who made her speech under an olive tree. As presidents of organizing committees go, let's just say she looks a lot better in a dress than Atlanta's Billy Payne.

Her city can only hope the next two weeks go so swimmingly.