OLYMPIAN EFFORTS

By ADAM COHEN

As Atlantan Ted Miltiades watched the FBI's plea for help with its Olympic-bombing investigation on TV last week, he had a shock of recognition: the bomb had exploded directly behind a fan-shaped Greek statue he had been photographing only hours before the deadly blast. Miltiades went back to his photos and found a rear shot of a white man in khaki shorts wearing a knapsack that looked like the one the FBI said had contained the bomb. He called the FBI's hotline, and within minutes an agent was at his door to whisk the picture away for expert analysis.

No one is predicting that the Miltiades photograph will crack the Olympic-bombing case wide open. But it was precisely the kind of lead the FBI was hoping for when it took an aggressive new tack in the investigation last week, announcing a $500,000 reward and presenting an unusual televised show reviewing the main evidence. At an Atlanta press conference, deputy director Weldon Kennedy for the first time played a tape recording of the 7-sec. 911 call that warned of the bombing and asked anyone recognizing the voice to come forward. An agent modeled a replica of a military-style backpack reconstructed from fragments found at the scene. And the agency announced a toll-free hotline for information on the case. The FBI says it has already received more than 2,500 calls, over 1,000 of them promising photos or videos.

The FBI's public appeal comes at a difficult time in the four-month-old case. Just weeks ago, the agency dropped its investigation of security guard Richard Jewell, the only individual whose name has surfaced in connection with the blast. The FBI has come under considerable criticism for allowing Jewell's life to be turned upside down on the basis of scant evidence, and some observers contend that the focus on Jewell may have dried up avenues leading to other suspects. The stalled investigation is especially frustrating to an FBI that recently determined just how lethal the bomb could have been: last week Kennedy revealed that the bomb's force was diminished because a group of teenagers kicked it over, causing the nails inside to shoot upward, instead of out into the crowd. Had it not changed position, he said, there would have been "many, many, many more people killed and injured."

Even as the FBI is hoping for additional leads, FBI agents and photo analysts are hunkered down inside the FBI's Atlanta field office, painstakingly poring over mounds of still photos and thousands of feet of videotape. These efforts have already yielded important information: sources told TIME, for example, that the FBI narrowed the window of time when the device was left by analyzing the background music recorded on homemade videotapes and synchronizing the videos' sound with a master tape of the rock concert performed in the park that night. Using the master tape as a timeline, as well as freeze-frames of the bench, the FBI has been able to determine that the bomb, which went off at 1:20 a.m., was left no earlier than midnight.

Not long ago there was a flurry of excitement in the FBI task force when someone spotted a shape on top of the bench during the period when the bomb is thought to have been planted. The video was sent, along with other promising graphic finds, to a state-of-the-art National Aeronautics and Space Administration imagery facility, where it was digitally enhanced. But the video did not give up its secrets. "It's a black blob," says Kennedy. "You can't tell if it's a person. You can't tell if the backpack is there or under the bench." Another video showed a woman seated on the same bench, but when agents tracked her down, she said she had seen nothing suspicious.

The FBI's new appeal for leads and its reward are aimed at two distinct audiences. It is unlikely that this bomber acted alone, and in addition to any co-conspirators, there are probably friends, family members and neighbors with knowledge or suspicions that could help the investigation. "Even the accused Unabomber had family members who suspected him, and he was living alone in a shack in Montana," says Damon Camp, a criminologist at Georgia State University. At the same time, since the blast occurred in a densely occupied park filled with camera-toting tourists, the FBI is convinced that someone has a picture or video likeness of the bomber or bombers packed away with their Olympic souvenirs.

Informants are often reluctant to come forward, whether out of fear, loyalty or a general aversion to getting involved, and this case has provided its own reasons for tipsters to be wary. Many sources who gave the FBI information on Jewell, ranging from his work history to his living habits, must be wondering today if the leads they provided helped keep the investigation focused on a probably innocent man. Still, the FBI is clearly hoping that popular interest in seeing the real bomber punished, and the lure of a $500,000 bounty, will keep those calls and photos coming.

--With reporting by Elaine Shannon/Washington

With reporting by Elaine Shannon/Washington