GRIFFIN: The world's big celebration, almost 11,000 athletes from over 200 nations, untold numbers of visitors from those nations making their way to Athens, Greece, for the Olympics four days before they begin. Our Michael Holmes has this update.</s>MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Perhaps the mark by which these games will be judged will be just how many people turn out to watch it. And we're told that after a very quiet week or so,most of the planes are full coming into Athens this week. So there's a great hope that the tourists are coming and they're going to come in numbers. We are told that ticket sales are fairly brisk, thousands, tens of thousands being sold every day. The opening, closing ceremony is already sold out, as are the finals of most events. so it's just a matter of filling out all of those qualifying events. There's a lot of hope that the Plaka, the other tourist areas, and of course those venues will fill up once the Games get under way. We're told the opening ceremony is going to be what the director calls a dream show full surprises. It was a closely guarded secret exactly what happens in the opening ceremony. He does promise it's going to be spectacular. When it comes to security, of course, that big issue here, post- 9/11, everything seems to be in place here. There are police pretty much on every major intersection, something that tourists find comforting rather than disturbing. Patriot missiles are ringing the city, and NATO warships are off the coast, and aircraft in the air. As the deputy defense minister said yesterday, Athens is probably the safest city in the world today. Michael Holmes, CNN, Athens.</s>GRIFFIN: The news on CNN continues now, Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington -- Wolf. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Final Olympic Preparations In Athens