Greeks will hold a torch for their triumphant soccer team for years to come but it is unclear whether the Euro 2004 winners will have the honour of carrying the Olympic flame into the stadium at next month's Games.

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Greece is gripped by speculation over who will follow the likes of former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali in Atlanta and Olympic 400 metres champion Cathy Freeman in Sydney in lighting the cauldron at the August 13 opening ceremony.

An eclectic field of candidates includes Olympic 200 metres champion Costas Kenteris and Zorba the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis.

Greek soccer captain Theo Zagorakis is a late challenger after leading his side to their shock victory over Portugal in the European Championship final this month and being named player of the tournament.

Organisers say the team's heroics have lifted the national mood after a tough period of preparations for the August 13-29 Games but that does not mean the 32-year-old will get his hands on the hotly contested Olympic torch.

"It would be a popular move and the players have signalled that Theo would like to do it," a source close to the Greek FA told Reuters.

Zagorakis is far from alone in wanting to get involved in the pyrotechnics, however.

Kenteris is still among the favourites but appears to have slipped down the pecking order since the flame relay began on March 25 in ancient Olympia.

Weightlifter Pyrros Dimas, who is hoping for a fourth consecutive Olympic gold, is further off the pace and may have to settle for the role of flagbearer to lead the Greece team into the stadium later in the ceremony.

The veteran strongman may need rubber boots to do so following local media reports that organisers plan to flood the stadium as part of an elaborate seafaring theme.

At the Sydney Games four years ago, Cathy Freeman ascended a hi-tech waterfall to fire up the cauldron in what has become a benchmark for increasingly grandiose opening ceremonies.

The script for the Athens extravaganza is being kept under tight wraps but speculation has mounted that popular nautical myths such as the Odyssey and Jason and the Argonauts will form the core of the ceremony.