The hosts have even laid on the most beautiful full moon of the year for the Games' spectacular farewell in their spiritual homeland.

With 250,000 balloons cascading down on the futuristic stadium and fireworks exploding across the night sky, Olympians will finally get a chance to let their hair down Sunday night at the greatest sports show on earth.

"It will be a mosaic of our memory. It will be a Bacchanalian celebration," said closing ceremony director Dimitris Papaioannu, eager to project an image of Greek ebullience at its best.

"This is our wish that the last snapshot of the Olympics will be spectators and athletes dancing together," he said.

But fans expecting a chance to take to the dance floor with Roger Federer or a Brazilian beach volleyball star will be disappointed.

"We will keep the barriers," Papaioannou said. "Unfortunately there are too many people in the stadium. But in this finale we can be dancing together metaphorically."

Greece's top singers are to perform together for the first time. The show will be pure Zorba in overdrive.

"It will be fun but I am not stressed about it," said Papaionnou, certainly much more relaxed than he was before the opening ceremony.

That gave Greece a once-in-lifetime chance to show the world a modern, 21st century image -- and the production won international acclaim.

Greece faced a torrent of criticism in the lead-up to the Games about construction delays, budget overruns and security concerns.

The opening ceremony helped to redress the balance. It was writ large for a global audience of up to four billion people who lapped up the spectacle.

At the closing ceremony, it will be a totally different ball game perhaps best summed up by three words -- Party, Party, Party.

Source: Reuters

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