He is a Canadian both in citizenship and in his grasp of his country's two official languages.

But just try to roll Nic Macrozonaris' name off your tongue or take a fiery blast of his occasionally hot personality and you get the real picture.

The great white hope of Canadian sprinting is as Greek as the Acropolis, which towers over the city here, or one of the islands from which his family originates.

"You don't need a passport to prove I'm Greek," Macrozonaris said yesterday in Athens. "My name says it.

"I'm a competitor. I want to do good and that's one of my main goals ... but the truth is, words cannot describe how it is going to feel to run in Greece in front of 100,000 people."

As cocky and outspoken as he has been at times during the four years since he sprinted on to the Canadian track scene, it was hard not to be charmed by Macrozonaris yesterday.

He moved deftly between his three official languages -- yes he can pontificate in Greek as well -- and talked about the special meaning these Games have for him.

His father, Spiros, emigrated to Canada in the 1930s and eventually married a francophone, Doris Morissette.

He recalled his first visit to Greece in 1986 when as a child of six he "loved the food and the beaches." He talked about how with each subsequent journey, more relatives distant and otherwise, claimed him as their own.

And in a voice hushed with emotion, he talked of what these Olympics will mean to his father, an electrician in their hometown of Laval, Que.

"My dad is like any other dad, a very proud father," Macrozonaris said. "He's very excited for his son. He's one of the men on the planet who is most excited to see me run here. That is the joy I bring him."

Holding court at the posh beach area of Glyfada -- where locals shell out seven euros just to stroll on the sand -- Macrozonaris claimed he is a changed man from the petulant one of a year ago.

LEARNED

At the world championship in Paris, he had a tantrum about not being able to run the final leg in the 4x100 relay. "Sometimes I come off as a loose cannon," Macrozonaris said of the incident which caused relay coach Glenroy Gilbert to toss him from the team.

"I've learned to communicate and talk better. Of course, I did make mistakes and I admit that. But life is always hot and cold, good and evil. Maybe that day I was evil."

Now that he's at least trying to shut up, it is clearly time to put up. It was four years ago that Macrozonaris first became the Canadian 100-metre champ, winning in 10.19.

When he ran a wind assisted 10.03 in Mexico City in May 2003, the buzz continued. Since then, however, he has shown little, including finishing second to Toronto's Pierre Browne at the Canadian championship.

Macrozonaris revealed yesterday that an ankle injury has slowed him. So last week when he won a meet in Montreal in a decent 10.23, he got the overdue boost he was seeking.

"Believe me, when I went to bed that night, I was tossing and turning like a little kid waiting for Santa Claus," he said. "I'm finally confident."

Today, Macrozonaris will be in Grosseto, Italy, with the rest of the Canadian track team, working with Gilbert and others.

Spiros and Doris arrive in Athens next week. Should Nic make the 100-metre final on Aug. 22, they'll celebrate their boy's 24th birthday on the grandest stage imaginable with thousands of Spiros' compatriots.