ATHENS, Aug 14: Greece staged a triumphal pageant to welcome home the Olympic Games on Friday, weaving ancient tradition and modern technology that lifted spirits after a drugs scandal engulfed the home nation's two top athletes.

By the time the Olympic flame was lit, three hours of music, dance and fireworks had helped dispel lingering doubts about Athens' readiness and taken minds off gold medal sprinter Costis Kenteris - expected to carry the torch, he lay instead in hospital facing expulsion and shame for missing a dope test.

As helicopters patrolled the skies and troops ringed the futuristic new Olympic Stadium for the first Summer Games since the Sept 11 attacks, Olympics chief Jacques Rogge urged athletes to set an example for world peace. Pointedly, he told them to forswear the drugs that have so tarnished sport's image.

In an age where the televised spectacular has become almost commonplace, tens of thousands of spectators gasped in delight throughout - from the moment a boy aboard a paper boat sailed across a flooded arena to a video greeting from the Russian and American crew of the International Space Station.

Billions of viewers around the globe saw the teams of 202 countries parade behind their flags.

The troubled nations of Iraq and Afghanistan won the biggest cheers, roars of approval met hand-holding North and South Koreans and there was warm applause for the big US team, despite American fears of a chilly welcome.

The 75,000-seat stadium is the centrepiece of an impressive array of venues, completed in a late spurt to host the world's biggest sporting festival after years of political wrangling and international concern that delays might scupper the Games.-Reuters