The sound of the starter's pistol and the race to the finish line always have been elemental in any Olympic Games. But that sound and that image now -- the possible resonance of gunfire and the need to finish -- make up so much of the anxiety-filled backdrop as the Games of the 2004 Summer Olympics are set to begin in Athens.

The great race, in this case, is not about medals but about being ready on time. The facilities. The organizers. All of it.

What this originally was intended to be -- a joyous return to the Olympic birthplace, the modern Games in the ancient city that gave the world Plato and Aristotle and Hippocrates -- hasn't exactly turned out as planned.

What this has been predicted to be -- a disorganized disaster in an ill-equipped city and dysfunctional country -- will be determined for real in the days to come.

But the leadup to the Olympics has been fraught with stress and confusion, contradiction, political strife, terrorism, fear, and ominous signs that the awarding of the Games to Athens was a mistake that cannot be undone. The idea was sound, taking an inefficient but historic city and making it more modern and more practical: A new subway, new tramways and 200 kilometres of new roadway have been built.

EFFICIENT

Just how efficient any of this will be, whether the city and its facilities are ready for the world, will be discovered during the days to come.

Forever, the Olympics have been about hope and dreams and the greatest of athletic fairy tales come true -- stories you could never invent -- just not here, just not necessarily now. The stories will emerge, as they always do, they remain what compels us, but as the Olympic torch is about to be lit and another Summer Games about to begin, the spirit here seems as much about avoiding disaster, finding ways to breathe polluted air, dealing with traffic clogging and heat and disorganization and catching a world full of drug cheats than it is about athletic grace or achievement.

The against-all-odds story of the Athens Olympics will come from the delivery of the Games, how close they can come to making this Rubik's Cube of an event work. Bigger, richer, more organized countries have failed at keeping the Olympic train from running amok. Athens has been everyone's sure bet for failure.

But with any Games, the lighting of the torch is a representation of everything new and what begins are the 17 days of competition, which is all in the end what anyone remembers if the Games are without incident. That is the allegorical beauty of the Olympics. They are self-contained: We have amnesia about the before and the after. We care desperately for two weeks about what we care not about one week before and one week after an Olympics. The pre-Games controversies rarely matter once the competitions begin. This Olympics, like all Olympics, will take on a life of its own.

The thing is, you never know. No one knew that Sydney in 2000 would be that wondrous an Olympic host or that Atlanta four years earlier would be that unwelcoming. Each Games is a storybook all its own, the characters still to be discovered and invented. But Athens has been picked apart for its geography, its security, its temperature, its race to finish venues, roads and villages, its air quality, its state of chaos, its shortage of power.

And still, because this is the Olympics, there is hope. These may end up as the Mary Tyler Moore Games: Maybe, just maybe, they're going to make it after all.

"All I can say is, I've been to Athens three times in the past 14 months and I think they'll put on an outstanding Games," said Dave Bedford, the chef de mission of the Canadian delegation. "I think this is going to be far better than anyone anticipates."

Bedford is putting on a happy face that Canadian Dick Pound, controversial member of the International Olympic Committee, does not apparently share. Wrote Pound recently: "Hundreds of people die in Athens each summer just trying to breathe, never mind competing athletically.

"To this day, when I hear the word Athens my visceral memory dating back to my first visit is the stench of diesel fumes. The conditions in Athens made the much-vaunted smog of Los Angeles (1984 host) appear to be a breath of fresh air."

PERFORMANCE

In the vaunted smog of Los Angeles, Canada had its most decorated Olympic Games. That was as much about athletes who boycotted as it was about performance. A major Canadian breakthrough is not expected by even the greatest of optimists in Athens.

Surviving these Games may be the best Canadians can hope for. And that has as less to do with Athens and more to do with a diminishing national sporting base than anything else.

There are no Canadian sure things heading into Athens, but there are those who are expected to challenge for medals. Maybe somewhere in the crowd, there is a Simon Whitfield whose name is barely known, who will emerge on event day and charm a nation in the process.

Maybe those who are expected to be on podiums -- hurdler Perdita Felicien, divers Alexandre Despatie and Emilie Heymans, strong rowing and canoe/kayak teams, Karen Cockburn on trampoline -- will lead the Canadian charge. But if there are not surprises along the crowded highways this could be a dry Olympics for Canada. Maybe a team, such as Ernie Whitt's unlikely national baseball team, can provide the impetus.

"We won't predict the number of medals," said Chris Rudge, the president of the Canadian Olympic Committee. "In the past, we've put numbers to our team prior to the Games and we've found it puts unwanted pressure on the athletes. We think we know where we'll do well, and we'll take it from there."

In an odd way, the makeup of this Canadian team mirrors at least some aspect of these Games: There are hopes but not giant expectations. This is uncertain time for the Games and uncertain time for a Canadian team which has raised the bar for qualification and lowered medal expectations at the very same time.

DISAPPOINTING

Canada won just 10 medals in Seoul in 1988 and 14 in a disappointing Games in Sydney. A number somewhere in between those seems likely here. The Quebec diver Despatie, who has written a success story since he began competing as a junior, may end up as the most decorated Canadian in these Games.

And apart from all this -- if there isn't enough stench in Athens already -- there is still that overriding emphasis on performance-enhancing drugs. Ever since the Americans stopped covering up their own drug tests and began finger-pointing and reluctantly testing, the drug trail prior to these Games has been so advanced it's almost numbing. Almost everyone -- not just Americans -- who wins in Athens will be wondered about. The humidity of Athens will be only part of the heat many athletes feel.

These will also be the most watched Games in history, not necessarily by the public, but by the 1,577 surveillance cameras equipped with microphones to pick up conversations that will be everywhere in Athens. Everywhere anyone goes, someone will be watching: This is what almost $1 billion US in security can buy these days.