• Journalists were surprised yesterday when Greek-born Queen Sofia of Spain popped into the press bar for a lemon soda to quench her thirst after two hours of touring Olympic media facilities. “These are truly marvelous days,” said Sofia, who arrived in Athens one day before the opening ceremony and was set to stay in Greece until the Games wrap up on Sunday. The Spanish queen was carrying a tiny digital camera and snapped endlessly at all aspects that caught her interest. Her son Prince Felipe and his wife, Letizia, were expected to arrive in Athens late yesterday. Sofia has been accompanied at the Games by her daughters Elena and Cristina, as well as the latter’s husband, Inaki Urdangarin, a handball player who won an Olympic medal and is vice president of the Spanish Olympic Committee. The queen’s brother, Constantine, 64, has also been present at the Games in his capacity as a member of the International Olympic Committee. Constantine was king of Greece until he was deposed and went into exile in the 1967 after collaborating with the Greek military junta of the time. The monarchy was later abolished.

Philately Fillip

• Philatelists are licking not just the stamps they collect but also their lips at the prospect of making a killing with the Greek post’s announcement that it has withdrawn all stamps depicting Leonidas Sampanis, the Greek weightlifter stripped of a bronze medal for doping. Only a few collectors had acquired the Sampanis stamp by Monday’s announcement, turning it into an instant rarity. The Greek post has been issuing 136,000 stamps of any medal-winner from the host nation a day after the event.

Dogged Pursuit

• First into the historic Panathinaikon Stadium at the end of Sunday’s women’s marathon was Japan’s Mizuki Noguchi - but only just. An ownerless dog was caught at the last moment as it ran in the entrance area just as the first runners approached. The animal was kept in the stadium manager’s office for the rest of the event - and staff have now become so attached to him that they’re thinking of letting him watch Sunday’s men’s marathon, too.

Beer Doping

• A reason has been found for the disappointing last place in group games for Greece’s baseball team. “Not one, not two, but 12 empty beer bottles were found in the players’ quarters,” Ta Nea newspaper indignantly reported. The Greeks had set a lot of store by the team of ethnic Greek Americans. “We might just as well have used homeland Greeks,” the paper said.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

• Greece’s women’s basketball team will at least look their best when they take on the Americans in the upcoming quarterfinals. To a woman, they’ve gone to the Olympic Village hairdressing salon to have their hair done. No one reckons on their beating the favorites. “The only way the USA won’t win gold is if they withdraw from competition,” said Eleftherotypia newspaper.

Talking Dirty

• Who are the muckiest in the press Olympic center? The Australians. “They leave piles of paper all over the place,” says one of the cleaners. And the Japanese, she adds, leave “a strange cooking smell” from their late-night culinary activities. No one is blaming them for that, with the center’s catering generally regarded as miserable. And the tidiest? “The Germans,” comes the prompt reply.