FOUR years after Sydney 2000 at what were hailed by many as the best-ever modern day Olympics, the Games return to their ancestral home today.

For the next two weeks Athens will be the focus of the entire world as the hopes and aspirations of thousands of athletes unfold in what has aptly been described as the greatest show on earth.

For all the crass commercialisation, drug scandals and, this time around, unprecedented security measures, there?s still something magical about the Olympics.

The thrill of victory, agony of defeat never seems more pronounced than at an Olympic Games.

It remains every competitor?s dream to one day stand atop the dais, watch the flag raised, hear the national anthem played and have the gold medal draped around their neck. It?s perhaps the ultimate sporting honour.

Of course, it would be naive to think the financial rewards that come with such an honour are not in some way fuelling every athlete?s desire for success.

But one would like to believe that the Olympics represent the last bastion of sport where national pride over-rides financial gain.

For tiny Bermuda, the Olympic dream is, in reality, just that.

Yet for more than 60 years now, Bermudians have been a part of the Olympic family, and there?s hardly a Games passed where we haven?t made some kind of impression.

Boxer Clarence Hill?s bronze medal at the Montreal Games of 1976 might be our only tangible reward but there have been dozens of other athletes who have performed equally well yet come away empty-handed.

No one falls into that category moreso than sailor Peter Bromby who next week begins his fourth successive Olympic campaign.

Four years ago in Sydney with crew Lee White he finished an agonising fourth ? one place out of the medals ? and before that there were disappointments at both Atlanta and Barcelona.

His rivals in the highly competitive Star class regard Bromby as an exceptional talent, more than capable of beating any skipper in the world on any given day.

Indeed, he?s proved it repeatedly with victories in some of the sport?s most prestigious regattas.

Yet, so far, that all-important Olympic medal has proved elusive.

Should Bromby and White make the breakthrough this time around, nobody would deserve it more. And arguably, given the form they?ve shown in a number of races overseas in the last year, their chances have never been better.

Such are the vagaries of sailing ? weather, sea conditions, etc ? Bromby will take nothing for granted. But one senses this time around he?s quietly confident.

He?s genuinely feared by others in the fleet and has a record outside the Olympics which speaks for itself.

One can only imagine the personal satisfaction, the sense of relief and the enormous pride he would take from a medal of any colour.

He can rest assured the whole of Bermuda will be willing him on.

As for the rest of the Island?s team, a medal would appear highly unlikely. But that shouldn?t bother them in the least.

Simply by getting to Athens they?ve done themselves and their country proud. And, no matter how they perform, they?ll return with memories to last a lifetime.

We?ll be following all of them with great interest.