All Greek to them

How’s this for a Greek Odyssey?

More than 2,500 years after Homer wrote the epic poem and 104 years after the Olympics were revived, a group of young women who live closer to Athens, Ga., than Athens, Greece, will represent the host country in next month’s Summer Games. And they’re making a long, strange trip of their own — back to their roots and a country that didn’t even have a playable softball field three years ago.

Thanks to a rule that allows the host nation to field a team in every sport as long as its players have national descent, Greece will have a softball team in the Olympics. Greeks who could explain the infield fly rule probably could be counted on one hand, so when the team visited the Greek embassy yesterday, it became clear they will be ambassadors in their own right.

“The first time we went to Greece, the girls that came out for a clinic didn’t know anything about the sport,” said catcher Stacey Farnworth, who will play on the team with two of her cousins. “Now when we go back, we see 10-year-old girls who know how to field, know how to throw, and that’s incredible.”

Sixteen of the 18 players on the team are Americans who have Greek ancestors within three generations. All gained dual citizenship to be eligible for the Olympics.

There are many cases of individuals gaining dual citizenship and competing in the Olympics for countries of which they are not natives. The 1998 Japanese men’s hockey team and the 1996 U.S. men’s field hockey team are among the other notable examples of host countries using the rule.

The Greek squad, made up mostly of current or former college players, will be a long shot for a medal at the Games. But three years ago, calling the Greek softball effort a pipe dream would have been a compliment.

Coach Linda Wells, who also heads Arizona State’s softball team, took her Sun Devils to Greece in the summer of 2001 for a series of games against the Greek all-star team. The idea was to get a taste of the Olympic culture. But when Arizona State arrived, it found nothing world class about softball in Greece.

Greece fielded its first team in 1999, a year after being awarded the Olympics, and the entire country had only one field for softball and baseball — a decrepit military yard without a dirt infield or basepaths.

So when Greece had to decide whether to field a native team or pursue a loophole, the choice was obvious. And contacting Wells was the first step.

The 30-year coaching veteran was one of 12 coaches in the U.S. Olympic team pool when she was contacted about the Greece position. She had been waiting for an Olympic opportunity but never figured it would come this way.

“When they first asked me to submit a resume, I thought it was for an international clinic or something,” she said. “I had no idea I would end up being in the Games with Greece. It’s been a very different surprise, but I’ve learned that’s how life goes.”

Wells formed the team primarily from an August 2002 tryout camp at the International Softball Federation headquarters in Florida. It includes 12 players from California but only two who played in the powerful Pac-10 Conference.

The U.S. team, by comparison, has 12 players from the league, which has produced 13 of the last 15 NCAA champions and at least one national finalist every year since 1986.

Greece will play the United States on Aug.19, but Wells is more concerned with beating the two-time defending gold medalists and coach Mike Candrea, her longtime rival at Arizona, than she is about any mixed loyalties.

“Competing against Coach Candrea and these players is nothing new,” she said. “In that game, it’s definitely against the U.S. I’ll be very pleased if and when Greece beats the U.S. And with the exception of that game, I think America is going to back Greece.”

The team does include two Greek natives, but they’re just as surprised to be here as the Americans are.

Joanna Bouziou, a 31-year-old first base/pitcher from Corfu, Greece, didn’t think there ever would be a Greek softball team — not even after she played in the 2002 European Championships.

“It never crossed my mind I’d ever be on that team,” she said. “But this is good for us and for the sport. People will start watching the sport and pick it up [after the Olympics].”

Bouziou and outfielder Aikaterini Koutougkou immersed their teammates in Greek culture, and so far the rest of the squad seems to be blending in. All 16 Americans know the national anthem, cook Greek food and even speak some Greek on the field.

“Those girls are really proud to be in Greece. That’s something that amazes me,” Bouziou said. “They really have the Greek spirit inside of them, and they want to know about their heritage.”

For Farnworth, that’s been the best part. She and her cousins, Sarah and Jamie, went through a three-year process to gain citizenship and wound up digging back into their family heritage. Farnworth’s grandmother, Helen, was 2 years old when her mother died in childbirth. But through the application, Helen visited Greece in March and saw where her parents were married.

“She’s 80 years old. Who knows if she would have been able to do this otherwise?” Stacey Farnworth said. “She never knew her mother, but because of this, she cries every day.”