ATHENS, Aug 9: The Panathenean Stadium, venue of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, hosted an archery test event on Saturday after serving mainly as a tourist venue for the past century.

The elegant marble horseshoe will provide a grandstand finish for the 2004 marathon and also host the archery while athletics moves to the modern Olympic Stadium north of the city.

“We’ve not seen anything like this,” Australian archer Jade Beatty told Reuters after athletes had entered the area through grand iron gates after descending through a 19th century tunnel stone bored into the hillside.

“We came in and it was like a scene from (the film) Gladiators, it was very exciting,” she said.

Watching over the archers’ shooting line is an ancient statue of Hermes uncovered during excavations in 1895 and given pride of place inside the track.

“It is something else being here,” said Greek champion Evangelia Psara. “The feeling of competing at the Panathenean is unique.”

The rows of empty white marble benches were showing their age on Saturday as weeds poked out between cracks in the stone and only a handful of spectators turned out in the midsummer sunshine.—Reuters