Ryan enlists Chinese help for safer Games

Inside lines

Dateline: Athens

Britain may not be within sniffing distance of securing an Olympic Games, but we are champions when it comes to ensuring that others are secure, thanks to a former Manchester beat bobby. Peter Ryan, 57, who rose through the ranks to become Norfolk's chief constable and head of training for the Met, is overseeing the safety of Athens 2004. Such is his reputation as the International Olympic Committee's No 1 troubleshooter that he will assist the Chinese with their preparations for 2008 when his Athens stint is over. Ryan has visited Beijing several times and arranged for some of their top-secret surveillance equipment to be deployed in Athens. "As you would expect, the Chinese are very much on the ball over Olympic security," he says. "By the time of their Games there will be about a million police involved." At least London have a ready-made expert on hand should the city make a bid for the 2012 Games. Ryan says he would relish the challenge but warns that the task would be the biggest ever undertaken by the capital. First, he has to ensure that Athens goes without a bang! Security arrangements are costing around half a billion pounds, and Ryan has Special Branch, Mossad and the CIA at his disposal as well as other experts. Ryan says that Athens will be the most difficult of all Games to secure. The arrest of 14 suspected members of the terrorist group 17 November, who murdered the British military attaché in Athens and threatened a bombing campaign up to and during the Games, has brought relief – but new problems too. Says Ryan: "In situations like this there are always sympathisers. We cannot relax." The Greek government want the suspects brought to trial quickly, but Ryan fears defence lawyers will use delaying tactics for maximum embarrassment to the Games.

All systems Coe for Seb's Greek lessons

As far as the Olympics are concerned it's all English to the Greeks. Not only have they imported a top cop from the UK to make Athens 2004 safe and secure, but they are also looking towards Britain for assistance in telling them just what the business of the modern Games is all about. Sebastian Coe has been hired by host broadcasters ERT, the BBC of Greece, to give them the lowdown in a series of monthly 30-minute programmes leading up to the Games. Lord Coe will explain who's who, and what's what, detailing the workings of the Olympic movement from commercialism to chemistry. ERT's London correspondent, Labis Tsirigotakis, who has arranged the exclusive deal, says: "Seb is the best-known British Olympian in Greece and is very popular. We may know a lot about the traditions of the ancient Olympics but no one is better equipped than Seb to tell us about the modern Games, everything from the finances to drugs testing." Coe will also interview leading sports personalities, including Greece's Olympic and world 200m champion, Costas Kenteris. Busy man. Just as well he is not running for mayor of London after all.

Mad dogs and tennis players...

Trust tennis players – whose presence in the Olympic Games is debatable anyway – to be awkward. Because of the searing heat in Athens in August, the organisers had sensibly suggested that the Olympic tennis tournament should begin, as several other sports events are going to do, just after breakfast, at 9am. But the International Tennis Federation were aghast and threw up their hands at the idea: "You cannot expect tennis players to start that early," they declared. "They simply would not be ready." So Tim, Greg, Serena, Venus and all will begin serving at 11am, playing through the midday sun and into the afternoon. A case of game, sweat and match.

The stunned silence over Greek football last week may have something to do with the 4-0 battering of Olympiakos by Manchester United but probably more with the fact that the domestic game is now at a standstill. All clubs are on strike for a month following the refusal of the Greek government to bail them out following the ITV-like collapse of their digital TV deal.

Olympiakos alone had asked for a £2.5m handout from the govern-ment but this has been refused by the prime minister, who says: "The lunatics have taken over the asylum in Greek football today". There is certainly no love lost between the government and the game, which so far has failed to settle on a venue for the Olympic football final because of arguments over renovation costs. Moreover, on the day his team played Real Madrid in the Champions' League, the AEK president, a newspaper magnate, began a 12-year prison term for falsely accusing a government minister of corruption. But at least Real got out of jail – drawing 3-3 after being 3-1 down.

According to local sceptics, Athens should be recruiting Denis Norden. "It'll be all right on the night" seems to be the pervading theme.

Actually, though, Athens is beginning to shape up nicely as an Olympic city now that the regeneration programmes are under way. "We have a saying here that once work starts it never stops," says the 2004 managing director, Ioannis Spamudakis. Except when archaeological ruins are unearthed – a Roman viaduct and brothel are the latest. Then all digging must cease for excavations. There's a thought for Wembley should it hit delays. Who knows what might lie underneath the sacred soil – Gazza's false teeth or Ken Bates' beard clippings?

insidelines@independent.co.uk

Exit Lines

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