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A women's tennis crisis?

REUTERS, Athens
The Athens Olympics grappled with its first sporting controversy on Thursday when women tennis players threatened to boycott next week's Games if two German players were not cleared to play.
But with only eight days to go before the opening of the August 13-29 Games, the boycott was the only serious cloud on the horizon for the Greek capital, which has staged a remarkable turnaround in preparing for the world's biggest sporting event.
Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis, who is in charge of the massive operation to protect the first summer Games since the September 11, 2001, attacks, said security forces had not detected any threatening "chatter" concerning a possible terrorist attack.
Ambulance workers called off planned strikes during the Games to support their demands for an Olympic bonus, an issue that other unions, including hotel workers, have taken up.
The tennis row involved a threat by WTA Tour players to stay away if Germany's Anca Barna and Marlene Weingaertner were not included in the Olympic team after meeting International Tennis Federation qualifying standards.
With the top 56 ranked players earning automatic entry into the Olympics, Barna and Weingaertner, ranked 46th and 52nd respectively, qualify for Athens based on the ITF's criteria.
The German Olympic Committee, however, had its own criteria of reaching a semifinal of a Grand Slam or the final of a tier-one event, which neither player has met.
"We discussed the matter at a players' meeting on Monday and I think there is a real chance of a boycott," Nathalie Dechy of France told the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Athens Games organisers (ATHOC) said they were expecting a decision by the WTA on Thursday but said the final decision rested with the German Olympic Committee.
"We hope the boycott will not happen and we will see all players up close," said ATHOC spokesman Michael Zaharatos.
But Elena Daniilidou, ranked 34th in
the world, and Greece's hope for a tennis medal, was not considering such a move.
"There is no issue of a boycott involving Daniilidou," said Greek Olympic Committee spokesman George Gakis. "She is in America and will be returning in the next few days."
Among the players expected in Athens are world No 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne, sisters Venus and Serena Williams, French Open champion Anastasia Myskina and tennis legend Martina Navratilova.
Organisers said their Olympic security plan offered athletes "total" safety without spoiling the Games' festive atmosphere.
"We have prepared for the worst-case scenarios, total security. We did whatever we had to do," Voulgarakis said of the Games' record 1.0 billion euro (1.21 billion dollars) safety plan, four times the amount spent for the Games in Sydney in 2000.
He said international police and security organisations had heard nothing of a threat to the Games from home or abroad.
"There is no talk of a threat and this makes us very optimistic that we did well to put these measures in place but hopefully we don't need to use them. The Games are a celebration and we want to safeguard this atmosphere," he said.