What does the author mean by the 'hardware from Athens'?
The medals won by various athletes at the competition
The author mentions this in the second para of the passage and then goes on to say – “including 50 gold medals and dozens more silver and bronze. In the men’s 1,500-meter run, for instance, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco grabbed gold, Bernard Lagat of Kenya took the silver….” This makes choice (c) correct.