YESTERDAY'S bombs in Athens should not bring into question whether the Olympic Games should go ahead.

If we do start to withdraw teams because we are frightened of terrorists, our footballers will not be going to the Euro 2004 championships in Portugal, and our 18 to 30-year-olds will not be going to the bars and beaches of Ibiza.

We cannot allow terrorism to win such a victory - particularly when there appears to be little evidence that the Olympics are any more of a target this year than they have been in the past.

As a country, we do seem to be working ourselves up into a frenzy with fears about terrorism at the moment. It was only a couple of weeks ago that an apparent plot to blow up Manchester United or a shopping centre was foiled, but there have been no charges laid against those supposedly involved.

With only flimsy evidence, we cannot allow fear to alter the way we live our lives.

However, yesterday's blasts should encourage the Greek authorities to work with security forces from around the world. In fact, it is rather disappointing to think that they might be inviting the world's top athletes to a global event and not consulting any other country's security officials.

Hopefully, yesterday's explosions will remind the Greeks that, as they can't defend entirely against domestic terrorism, they really should take some advice regarding international terrorism.

The bigger threat, though, to this summer's Olympics would appear to be the Greeks' slow progress in building the stadiums in which the Games will be held.

Of course, it will be considered rather rich that this criticism comes from a country that has struggled to rebuild its national football stadium and that has had to give back the 2005 World Athletics Championships because it decided it was no longer going to build a venue at Picketts Lock.

But had the Athens infrastructure been completed well in advance, as it should have been, yesterday's fears would have been even easier to dismiss. With nearly all the construction work being an eleventh hour event, it is understandable that some competitors might fear that security will also be a last-minute dash.

This makes it even more important for the Greeks to work internationally to offer protection and reassurance.