The Olympics returned to the country of their ancient beginnings and the city of their modern revival when Athens was selected today by a surprisingly wide margin over Rome to be the host of the 2004 Summer Games.

By a vote of 66 to 41, the members of the International Olympic Committee removed the sting of rejection that Athens felt seven years ago when Atlanta was chosen as host of the 1996 centennial Olympics. It was in Olympia, Greece, that the ancient Games began in 776 B.C., and it was in Athens that the modern Olympics were revived in 1896.

Athens also won out over Stockholm, Cape Town and Buenos Aires.

Representatives of Athens acknowledge that the city lost the vote for the 1996 Games because it campaigned primarily on expectation: that the Games should be returned to Greece by birthright. Athens earned the 2004 Games by putting forth a bid that pragmatically addressed its primary problems head-on and provided solutions. It has already built most of its Olympic facilities and has begun $7 billion worth of public works projects to allay concerns about pollution and traffic.

The winning bid was orchestrated by Gianna Angelopoulos, a 41-year-old attorney, former member of Parliament and a vice chairwoman of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Her skills in holding together dissonant groups and her ability to get the message out that Athens wanted to earn the Games, not be handed them, were critical in swaying the I.O.C. vote in Greece's favor.