by Henry Bouvier
ATHENS, Aug 10 (AFP) - From the man in the street to high-ranking officials, proud Athenians said Tuesday they are prepared for their Games, three days before they start -- and cocked a snook at doubters who said the Greeks would never pull it off.
Their hackles raised by the negative press they have been getting around the globe for their initial slowness and then frenetic pace in preparing for the Olympics, Greeks are now thumbing their noses at their detractors.
"We shut them up," said Argyris Sakarikos, a restaurant owner in central Athens.
"I always knew we`d make it, even at the last minute. That`s how we always do it," he added.
While all Olympic facilities are finished, some of the peripheral amenities are still in the works.
The extension of the Athens Metro that will link the capital to Peristeri, in a western suburb, where boxing events will be held, was inaugurated as late as Monday, and the fluorescent plastic meshing that warns of construction work is still visible in many parts of the capital.
The main stadium was only completed in July, but everything is now ready, just as Athenians knew it would be.
On Tuesday, Greek newspapers devoted columns of space to the angry speech delivered by President Costis Stephanopoulos to the 116th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), lambasting those who were rubbing their hands in anticipation of the Athens Games turning into a tragi-comedy.
Stephanopoulos said he was "personally bitter" after "I came across a number of malevolent or ironical comments by others who were anticipating an organisational failure, and rejoicing in advance.
"What I cannot accept is the assertion in that awarding the Games to Greece you (IOC) supposedly committed an error," he said.
Kathimerini newspaper described Stephanopoulos` comments as "arrows pointed by the president at ill-willed detractors."
The left-wing Ethnos newspaper said Stephanopoulos had spoken on behalf of all Greeks when he gave his stern retort "to all those who betrayed Greece by saying we were weaklings and laggards."
On Sunday, IOC chief Jacques Rogge said he and the rest of the committee were "extremely pleased by the preparations.
"We look forward to the Games. These Games will be very, very good," added Rogge.
The head of the Games` organising committee, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, was also satisfied the hard work had paid off, and insisted she had never doubted in the Greeks` ability to do the job.
"The people are confident and proud and want to show off their country and write a new chapter in our history," she said.
"I knew we`d have the guts to do it," she added.
Athens was left changed and rejuvenated by the pre-Olympic works, and, said Angelopoulos-Daskalaki: "Greeks now have the impression they are first class citizens, not second or third class."
The Olympics were a national affair in which all Greeks must "work together to send an image to the world of a contemporary, creative Greece, a Greece that is sure of herself, with great value and values."
Government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros said the international media have now recognised "that everything is ready."
"The Games are just a breath away, and what we see now is deep recognition of the effort made by Greece," he said.