"Here in Athens where they are obviously going through a tough time there is no doubt at all that the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 did deliver tangible benefits," Johnson (pictured above at the temple of Parthenon) said.

"We flew into an airport that would not have existed had it not been for the Olympic Games, we drove on roads that would not have existed had it not been for the Olympic Games, the quality of the air is considerably sweeter for there having been an Olympic Games with the installation of mass transit systems within this capital.

"We are breathing legacy, if I can put it that way.

"You know – I love the smell of legacy in the morning.

"It's a wonderful thing to see the benefits of the Olympics here."


While the Mayor's adaptation of the Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore's line about napalm from the 1979 film Apocalypse Now will raise a smile, he was serious as he denied there would be a bittersweet element to the Ceremony that was about to take place in the Panathenaic Stadium, which held the first of the modern Games in 1896.

"The cost of infrastructure for the Athens Games (Olympic Stadium pictured above) was €8 billion (£6 billion/$10 billion)," he said.

"The current economic deficit is €370 billion (£296 billion/$471 billion).

"I'm not certain that the Olympic investments are in any sense the problem.

"The economic problems far outweigh the Olympic investments."


Asked if there were any lessons to be drawn from the way the Athens 2004 Games (Olympic Opening Ceremony pictured above) were organised, he added: "There is a very positive conclusion to be drawn about the legacy system and we shouldn't ignore it.

"They have a tube system, they have an airport, they have roads for the airport, and the air is clean.

"The stones of the Parthenon are no longer corroded by sulphur thanks to the Olympic Games of 2004, and that's a very moving and important thing.

"The Olympic investment has certainly paid off."

Sebastian Coe, chairman of London 2012, also rebutted the idea that the 2004 Games had been partly to blame for the current economic malaise in Greece.

Referring to the relative costs of the Olympic budget and the current deficit, he said: "I think that shows there is quite a big disconnect in that argument.

"Athens has transformed itself into a 21st century transport city."

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