ATHENS, Greece - People all around the world watch the Olympic Games. But when the Games are held in the city where you live, it gives you advantages that all those billions of viewers around the world can't possibly match.

Ask Giorgos Michalopoulos, who is 10. He's an extremely eager tennis player. He has played since he was four. He takes lessons every weekday and plays matches on Saturdays. In his room he has posters of Serena Williams and Justine Henin-Hardin, two of the best women tennis players in the world.

Because he lives in Athens, Greece, where the Olympics were held this summer, Giorgos got to see all the men's Olympic tennis matches in person, and some of the women's matches, too.

But that's not all. One day during the Olympics, Roger Federer, the No. 1 ranked men's player in the world, walked into the carpet store in the center of Athens where Giorgos hangs out with his parents when school is not in session.

Giorgos, who is not shy at all, jumped up and got Federer's autograph.

The Olympics is a huge event, as people in Atlanta found out eight years ago when the Games were held there. This year, about 10,500 of the best athletes from 202 countries around the world came to Athens.

Many of them walked right by his parents' carpet store - or stopped in to have a look.

"It's fantastic!" Giorgos said.

He also got to see some of the track and field competitions at the new stadium that was built especially for the Olympics. And being in the stadium is an experience completely unlike watching the events on TV.

He was there when Fani Halkia, a Greek woman, won the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles, making Greeks in the audience, including Giorgos, shout with pride.

Greece was where the Olympic Games began more than 2,000 years ago.

"We were singing, we were dancing, and we were running with her," he said, smiling at the memory.

Konstantinos Kokkinis, who is 8, was also happy about the Olympics.

"I like it very much that they are in Athens," he said.

Konstantinos, who has a Greek father and a Romanian mother, likes to ride horses, and he was particularly interested in the equestrian events, some of which he got to see in person.

M

ore than anything, the Olympics are about dreams. Most adults cannot dream of ever competing in the Olympics one day, because their chances have gone by and they have chosen to pursue other goals.

No one, though, dreams bigger dreams than kids. And having the Olympic come to Athens especially encouraged Greek kids to dream that they might one day receive the cheers reserved for Olympians.

Giorgos is determined to compete as a tennis player. And Konstantinos wants to compete on horseback.

Some people might say dreams like that are silly, and that it's better to think of doing something more realistic, like being a teacher or a lawyer or an engineer.

But every Olympic athlete who came to Athens began as a dreamer. And sometimes dreams do come true.