ATHENS, July 28 (AFP) - Athens Olympics organisers ATHOC backed down on Wednesday after announcing they had banned a British journalist from the Games in retaliation for having revealed secret details of the Games’ opening ceremony.
There has been a mistake'', a source from the organisers' told AFP. Earlier, the same source had said, on condition of anonymity, that in a communal decision with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), ATHOC decided to withdraw the journalist’s accreditation’’.
In a July 25 report written by journalist Euan Stretch, the Sunday Mirror exposed full details of the ceremony.
But the source recognised later that no such name was in the Athens Games accreditations’ list.
Games’ organisers and Greek officials did not deny the report and expressed their disappointment and anger at the leak.
The Olympics open on August 13 and run till August 29.