ATHENS 2004/SHOT PUT: The Olympics went home to its birthplace yesterday and some of the spectators who turned out to sit on a grass field under a burning hot sun in a 4th century BC stadium swore that here was an event to please the gods of ancient Greece.

If the gods were not pleased, they must be a surly bunch.

Everybody else was cheering, clapping and in the case of the shot-putting athletes, yelping and screaming. One elderly Greek doctor quietly wiped away tears of joy.

"I feel the spirit of the ancient Greeks here," said student Maria Majoura, who came down with her family from northern Greece to watch more than 80 athletes compete in the shot put eliminations and finals - an event that let women compete for the first time in the home of the ancient Olympics.

Not much is left standing on the 40-acre grounds of Olympia but excavations have produced tons of fragments and pieces from toppled columns and the like that lie quietly and quite spectacularly on the ground. The venue is surrounded by pine-clad hills that lent a soft, mystical feel proceedings.

An announcer on a loudspeaker assured the audience, "even though this is a sacred place, it is okay to applaud and cheer the athletes".

The crowd of about 4,000 were confined to the stadium which had only a few artefacts of the past, including remnants of a marble track for sprinters.

The crowd sat on a hillside of burned out grass to watch the shot putters do their Herculean spins from a series of circles while officials in straw hats, white shirts and striped ties measured their efforts.

"This looks like a high school field but it is loaded with history," said a Greek spectator.

Kristin Heaston of the United States, the first woman to perform in a contest at Olympia, did not qualify for the finals.

She accepted defeat gracefully, however, telling reporters: "I had to think about what I was doing in the ring, not what I was doing in history. Now that I am done I can focus and even take some pictures. This was a long trip for me to throw 17 metres."

She was clearly disappointed but like other athletes who failed to make it at Olympia, she was honoured to just be here.

The word "awesome" - as in a place filled with awe - was used and reused by the competitors. So even if they lost, they won - they made it to the heights of Olympia.

The honour of being the first woman to win gold at Olympia went to Russian Irina Korzhanenko.

The European champion, stripped of the 1999 world indoor title for doping, unleashed a massive year's best of 21.06 metres to win the first athletics gold to be decided at the Games.

Korzhanenko took the lead in the first round with 20.41, improved to 20.70 in the second and then launched her winning throw in the third.

Although complaining of the heat, which was at its fiercest in the late morning, Korzhanenko also recognised the legacy of ancient Greece.

"The Olympic gold medal is the highest award for any athlete," she said after her historic victory. "I think the Greek gods helped me win this gold medal today."

Yuri Bilonog won the men's shot put gold for Ukraine with his sixth and final attempt of the competition.

The European gold medallist equalled American champion Adam Nelson's opening mark of 2.16 to capture his first major title on a count back.

Nelson, who has now been relegated to silver in one Olympic Games and two world championships, must have wondered what he had done to offend the Greek gods. He dropped the shot once and then fell heavily on his back at the start of a sequence of five consecutive fouls.

"I felt it was my day and I felt it was my year," said Nelson. "I lost it and he won it."