With great expectations and a measure of anxiety, the Games of XXX Olympiad begin on Friday in a tense atmosphere of foreboding that surely never entered Baron de Coubertin’s mind when he renovated the Ancient Olympic Games in 1896 with the sole intention of “bringing together the youth of the world in a quadrennial festival in the true spirit of friendship”.

The competition will be fierce but the prize will be the wages of peace- Lino Bugeja, Marsascala

For many athletes this is the fortnight of hope when over 10,000 athletes from 204 nations come together to compete in 26 different sports. The competition will be fierce but the prize will be the wages of peace.

Fortunately, the Cold War tensions of the 1980s are gone and new nations have emerged with great hopes for glory, particularly those in sub-Sahara Africa specialising in middle and long distance running where Kenyans and Ethopians are now dominating these events. The continent produces some of the fastest runners in the world and this only started in 1960 when Abele Bikila of Ethiopia was the first African to win the prestigious marathon on the historic streets of Rome.

In the sprint events, the blue riband in athletics, Jamaica, a small island in the Caribbean with a population of three million, presents its renowned sprinters, Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, competing for glory against the mighty US, with a population of 300 million, in the explosive short distances.

The rising big power is China. In Beijing, four years ago, China toppled the US for the first time from the top medal list. Not surprisingly, when 400 million Chinese people play or watch basketball, let alone other sports, the haul of medals is bound to be plentiful. Like the Soviet bloc nations of the past, China sees the sporting arena as a stage for demonstrating the superiority of its ideology.

There is so much in store at the London Olympics, steered by Lord Coe who, as a humble citizen named Sebastian Coe, won gold for Britain in the 1,500-metres in Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984.

In the run-up to the Games, a new record has already hit the world headlines because, for the first time in the Olympic Games, both ancient and modern, all participating countries have women among the competitors. This is a ground breaking occasion that would have given the founder of the Olympic Games a heart attack as he was staunchly against women participation in the Olympic Games.

For once since Malta’s first participation in the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in1928, we have the pious hope of seeing a Maltese participant on the world’s most glittering podium.

In spite of all the efforts of the London Games organising committee, the dark side of international terrorism has unfortunately threatened to rear its ugly head reminding us of the excesses that have occurred in the past such as the Black September massacre at the Munich Olympics in 1972. In these circumstances, the Games organisers in London have rallied all available manpower to guard the participants in all the 30 venues with a full scale land, sea and air operation including land-to-air missles located on the roofs of flats near the Olympic Park, Royal Navy battleships on the alert as well as jets and helicopters manned by the Royal Air Force.

Fearing a 9/11 attack, the organisers are taking no chances even though in the process they have created an eerie sense of George Orwell in his apocalyptic novel 1984 In this scenario, one is inclined to ask: But who is sick, sport or society?

London will become the first city in the world to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times. On the previous occasions, in 1908 and 1948, in spite of the short notice of two years for preparations, London took the enormous challenge and rose to the occasion with great pride and satisfaction. This time, the challenges to be surmounted are even greater.

London has seen the wettest June since records began in 1910 with July continuing in a similar fashion but the organisers are optimistic that they can face any situation that the weather “can throw at them”.

It is indeed ironic that those who have paid most for their ticket at the Olympic Park (up to £2,012) could be placed in the stadium that is not fully covered. In true British attitude, the Sports Minister, Hugh Robertson, mused: “Regardless of the weather we will have a great party. The fun of the party will overcome the inconvenience of the rain.”

That is truly the Olympic spirit already prevailing in the Olympic Village.

The opening ceremony on Friday, apart from the usual ceremonials with the march past of the athletes, the oaths of loyalty to Olympism, the lighting of the huge Olympic flame, the hoisting of the Olympic flag and the playing of the Olympic anthem, will also present a huge display, estimated to be viewed by over one billion viewers, under the renowned artistic director Danny Boyle, which will showcase the culture and traditions of Britain.

It is a highly ambitious artistic expression titled Isles of Wonder, depicting the idyllic British countryside with meadows, fields, rivers with families taking picnics or doing sports on the village green. From the “mosh pit” to the “posh pit”, Mr Boyle gives vent to his imagination in scenes replete with famous quotations from English literature.

Uncharacteristically, the German popular magazine Der Spiegel has recently launched a ferocious attack on the Games preparations. It criticised the transport system and the atrocious weather conditions saying that “the Games are destined to go down in history as a gigantic soggy mess”. Perhaps this magazine is too young to remember the indomitable courage, determination and commitment of the British people as evidenced in Dunkirk in 1941 when “they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat”. That Dunkirk spirit is very much alive to-day and it will prevail whatever the difficulties.

I have no doubt that the British will give us an exceptional Olympic Games.

Let the Games begin...