It is the largest congregation of mankind that meets to pay homage not to one God, but to a wider faith of ability and aspiration. It is older than Christianity and Islam and has survived the erosions of history and time. Here numbers are everything and nothing, but all of it centres on the power of one. The Olympic Games are a microcosm, they are also a universe.

MAKING A SPLASH: The Games return to Athens

But here in Athens, these giant Games, which embrace and swallow, welcome and intimidate, have met something deeper and more powerful. They have come up against their reason for being. In this uneven hilly land of poets and pine groves, do not imagine that the dazzling heritage belongs to a distant past. For Greeks young and old, their ancient legacy remains, in the words of a writer, "a coat cut to their measure yesterday". The Games have returned to the land that gave the world democracy, western civilisation, architecture (the basic design of every stadium is unchanged from ancient Greek arenas), the idea of chaos and cosmos, and hundreds of words-politican, catastrophe, euphoria, logic, aesthetics.

That they gave us the Olympics too seems like an afterthought, but the Greeks are being gracious. As the curtain rises on the Olympic Games in Athens, there are old dues to be acknowledged and paid-on all sides. For the Olympics will give to Greece almost as much as it has taken from its hosts. Which is why a country disdainful of traffic rules respected the Olympic lanes set aside for Games' transport from day one-all it took were five rings painted on the road.

The Olympics have given Greece its rightful place in the world. "When the world thinks of Greece, it thinks first of ancient Greece and then of all our political turmoil," says Nikos Konstandaras, editor of the English edition of Kathimerini, one of the country's most respected newspapers. "Now when they think of Greece, they will think of the Olympics first and only then will they go back to ancient times."

In Athens, at every turn, antiquity stands alongside modernity; the spanking new Athens Metro has mini-museums on most stations featuring undamaged pots circa 6th century, unearthed when construction began. Or to go from the sublime to the ridiculous, this is a place where the Parthenon looks down upon the smart set downing their frappes as the open-air cinema advertises the Brad Pitt myth-mangler Troy. Whom the Greeks wish to destroy, they first ignore. The Olympics though have been welcomed like a prodigal child-wasteful, time-consuming, energy-intensive but all the same deserving of love and attention.

The waiting is over and Athens is as ready as it will be. So will be the athletes, who arrive to a backdrop that looms over them until they make the first move. Grant Hackett, 1,500 m swimming gold medallist from Sydney, says, "There are two things going on here. One is the Olympics and the other is swimming. The swimming is easy, we know how to do that. It is the Olympics that you have to handle."

The Games unnerve even those at the apex of world sport. In a profession where fame is fleeting and a few seconds stand between fame and oblivion, this fortnight every four years is the athlete's elusive shot at immortality, their way of saying, "I was there." American swimmer Brendan Hansen, Olympic rookie and double world record holder, says, "Your world record can be broken every day. When you win an Olympic gold, you win it for life." Which is why India's serene Anju Bobby George refuses to get frantic about a cast of competitors who have landed 7 m-plus long jumps in the run-up to Athens. On the night, the Olympics will have levelled the playing field. No world record will matter.

Michael Phelps, an elongated babyface with jug ears and slow, rolling speech, understands it more keenly. Owner of three world records, the teenage American swimmer is already a celebrity and millionaire. It is he who is the face of Athens, one who could be the best all-round swimmer of all time. He wants Mark Spitz's record of seven golds, but only when he wins his first one will he feel even halfway content. He returned empty-handed from Sydney and began training for Athens "the next day".

They are all here with their struggles and their stories: giant weightlifters who most certainly cannot touch their toes and nimble gymnasts who can probably do so bending backwards, fencers who can't hurt a fly and archers who can probably bring them down from mid-air. Some have come, backed by gazillion-dollar miracle technology, for others the miracle is merely that they are here. There are soldiers who row, grandmothers who shoot, millionaires who sail and farmers who jump. The Games' youngest competitor is Malaysian Bryan Nelson, who turned 14 in June.

This is where our hostile world comes face to face with its inner demons and outer enemies. Here the two Koreans must walk as one, the Greeks must welcome the Turks, Israelis must queue up behind Arabs, Iranians and Iraqis must stand to be mistaken for one another, and the Americans must discover what the world really thinks of the No. 1. The US Olympic Committee had "decorum workshops" for its athletes to tutor them in ignoring provocation and also in making sure that their victory celebrations are not over the top. But just in case, they are also given a gas mask each.

These are a Games unique to our times. After 9/11, seven countries stepped in to set up the $1.5 billion security cover. Helicopters circle the main arenas, a giant blimp with cameras is overhead and the muffled roar of jet fighters indicates that F-16 pilots have reported for duty. Patriot, Stinger and Hawk missile batteries are in readiness and at the water sports venues, sonars and underwater cameras keep an eye out for suicide swimmers.

Athens 2004 also has the power to be the Games for the ages. Maybe not in grandeur but in perspective. Advanced tests to catch dope cheats and the marathon run over the course that legend says it originally was. Writing in 79 b.c., Cicero described Athens thus: "There is no end to it in this city. Wherever we walk we set foot upon history." For a fortnight, the planet's best athletes will be Athenian. The world will speak Greek. History will reveal itself day by day and we will be witness.

10 UNMISSABLE ACTS IN A GREEK DRAMA Thirty-two disciplines, thousands of athletes. Who to track, what to look out for ... here's a connoisseur's guide to the pick of the action in Athens.

1. The Spitzkreig MICHAEL PHELPS, United States, Swimmer Remember the name. The 18-year-old American targeting Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in a single Games is a singular talent. His mastery in all the four strokes is almost freakish. He qualified for nine events in Athens but entered only eight for fear of overloading himself. He holds three world records, including 200 m medley, which was the oldest in men's swimming, standing for nine years.

2. Prodigy KENENISA BEKELE, Ethiopia, Long-distance runner At 20 Bekele had won back-to-back "doubles" at the world cross country. Last summer, he ran his first track race. Three months later he won the world 10,000 m title beating idol and Olympic champ Haile Gebrselassie. This May, he broke Gebrselassie's records. In Athens, they will meet for the 10,000 m.

3. The Despatie ALEXANDER DESPATIE, Canada, Men's 10 m Platform Diving Nobody had pulled off a backward 2 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists in a platform dive event before Despatie, 18, did it in last year's World Championships. Look out for the Canadian going for the dive that could produce the highest points as it is pegged at the highest degree of difficulty (3.8).

4. The Duel in the Pool AUSTRALIA VS THE UNITED STATES, Swimming Thorpedo still lives. Despite the frenzy surrounding Phelps' bid for eight golds, it's not all done and dusted in the pool. Standing between Phelps and the US swimming team is Ian Thorpe, Australia's Thorpedo. Thanks to Phelps, the US holds eight of the 13 world records in the men's individual events. Thorpe with three golds leads the Aussies. He will clash with Phelps only in the 200 m freestyle. In Athens no world record will be safe.

5. Going For One HICHAM EL GUERROUJ, Morocco, 1,500 M Runner A champion and a gentleman, El Guerrouj has every record worth holding. But the Olympics proved cruel, he tripped in Atlanta, and was beaten in Sydney. He has had 28 consecutive wins this year but the Olympics are all that counts.

6. The Super Santos DAIANE DOS SANTOS, Brazil, Gymnast, Floor Exercise At the 2003 World Championships, South America's first gymnastics star Daiane Dos Santos of Brazil unveiled a stunning move now named after her. At the end of a tumbling pass, the 21-year-old went into a half-twist that was followed by a front-facing double flip with her legs straight and tight to the body. On a scale of A to E in degrees of difficulty, the Dos Santos is called a Super-E move.

7. Going For One Mo MAURICE GREENE, United States, Sprinter His tattoo reads Goat, Greatest of All Time. Defending 100 m champ Maurice 'Mo' Greene will be challenged by Jamaican Asafa Powell who beat him in two previous races and American Shaun Crawford who has been the fastest this year.

8. Field Dragons SOHAIL ABBAS, Pakistan, TEUN DE NOOIJER, Holland, Hockey, The drag flick is hockey's hottest shot, taken during the penalty corner. A team's win or loss can depend on the form of its drag flicker. The battle for the best penalty corner man is on between Abbas and Nooijer.

9. Marathon Woman PAULA RADCLIFFE, Great Britain, Long distance runner Half a mile separates this extraordinary woman from her nearest rivals. She is more than three minutes faster than anyone else with a marathon world record of 2:15:25.

10. Dress for Success THE FASTSKIN FSII, Full-Body Suit, Swimming Sharks inspired it. Every old 'Jaws' has V-shaped ridges on its skin to scythe through water with great speed. The FSII too has ridges -to help the water skim off the swimmer's back and reduce resistance. Best used in sprints.