Opponents of Athens' Olympic bid threatened yesterday prolonged legal battles if the Greek capital wins the 2004 Games. Only 10 days before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) picks a city to host the Games, the Citizens Initiative Against Hosting the 2004 Olympics in Athens vowed to cancel or delay major projects by taking them to Greece's highest court.

"Out target is to stop construction projects that are harmful to Athens and our weapon is the Council of State (court) which has a history of stopping such projects," George Sariyannis, a professor of city planning said.

A sprawling city of four million people which staged the first modern Olympics in 1896, Athens is one of the favourites in a short list including Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Rome and Stockholm.

Local support in Athens was rated as excellent with 96.4 of the public in favour of hosting the Games. But the small Citizens Initiative founded in February gained momentum after leftist opposition parties came out against the Athens bid, joining voices in saying the Olympics would prove an environmental, city planning and financial disaster for Greece.

Meanwhile, South African president Nelson Mandela is to travel to Lausanne next week for the IOC decision on the Games.

Mandela will join the Cape Town bid committee on the day prior to the decision for a final presentation to the IOC.