Olympic Dream Turns To Nightmare For Athens

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 3-3-2004 | Helena Smith

[blam]

Olympic dream turns to nightmare for Athens

Helena Smith in Athens
Wednesday March 3, 2004
The Guardian (UK)

Just 163 days before the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Athens at least half of the city's projects for the games are still unfinished, according to Greek MPs and media. The majority of the unfinished sites are reportedly not even halfway to completion. For a country proud of its classical legacy, the situation is deeply embarrassing. Among the sites facing problems are the marathon course, which traces part of the original route run by the messenger Phidippides in 490BC, and the showpiece glass-and-steel dome over the main Olympic stadium. They are so far behind schedule that few believe they will be completed on time.

"All the historical capital that the Greeks had as the nation that both invented the games and revived them has been needlessly lost by these disastrous preparations," Liana Kanelli, a Communist MP, told the Guardian. "What we are looking at is an absolute mess, and a very costly one at that."

Panicked officials have postponed "delivery deadlines" to within weeks of the start of the games on August 13. They have also promised hefty completion bonuses to contractors, the paper said.

Most critics blame the delays on the needless exhibitionism of many of the projects. The £80m landmark dome at the main Olympic stadium, designed by the internationally renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, has been singled out as being especially vainglorious.

"Everybody knows that the Olympic stadium stands in an earthquake-prone zone," said Ms Kanelli. "Here we are talking about building a glass roof in that zone to protect people from the sun. Any tourist knows that with the summer temperatures in Athens that's an absolutely ridiculous idea."

Failure to complete the dome would be a big embarrassment for the organisers.

Dress rehearsals for the opening ceremony might also be threatened.

The race to complete projects has also raised fears for the safety of construction workers. Last week protesters took to the streets in response to the rising death toll among builders on Olympic sites.

The governing Socialists, who face the public at the general election this weekend, have dismissed the criticism as premature.

The culture minister, Evangelos Venizelos, said what was important was that the projects were ready in time for the start of the games. "An artificial climate of concern is being created," he said.

But international Olympic inspectors have also sounded the alarm over setbacks in the construction of a roof for the outdoor aquatic centre. A contract for the project was finally signed yesterday after angry letters from the International Water Sports Federation.

In a sign of the growing anxiety the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, took the unusual step last weekend of suggesting that the Greeks now concentrate on the "core business".

If that meant sacrificing Calatrava's showpiece dome so be it, he said.

"I am interested in the core delivery of the games," Mr Rogge said. "If we have the stadium without the roof, but still functioning well, I am perfectly happy. Much remains to be done."

[Paleoguy]

One set of facilities should be built somewhere and used every four years. It is absurd that the olympics moves around constantly and requires this sort of expenditure.

[fourdeuce82d]

Given the antipathy toward this country from many greeks, and their support of lefty terrorists...I'm hoping for a nice big bowl of schadenfreude to come my way.

[cyborg]

I imagine that digging in Greece is turning up interesting artifacts. I wonder if that's another reason it's taking so long.

[BlazingArizona]

One of the odder sights of a viist to Athens is, on the freeway from the new airport to downtown, seeing exits for Sparta and Marathon.

[BlazingArizona]

One of the odder sights of a viist to Athens is, on the freeway from the new airport to downtown, seeing exits for Sparta and Marathon.

[anniegetyourgun]

Or maybe the glory days of the Olympics filled with amateur athletes have long since past. Between drugs, crooked judges, execs on the take, transsexuals competing, etc. etc. etc.....

[billorites]

"One set of facilities should be built somewhere and used every four years. It is absurd that the olympics moves around constantly and requires this sort of expenditure."

Like Orlando.

Make it a dual destination, all-season resort.

[JeeperFreeper]

You can just imagine what security is going to be like.

[AntiGuv]

The Olympics brings an enormous influx of revenues to wherever they are hosted, which more than makes up for the expenditure.

The only problem arises when venues like Athens are selected for political reasons, ignoring their readiness to host the Games.

That being said, I recall similar alarmism before a number of past games so I am not at all (yet) convinced there is anything to this.

[Spruce]

I cannot imagine why any city would vie to host the olympics. Holding the games at the same spot every time is a great idea. Brilliant.

[ServesURight]

Back in 1896, when the modern Olympics resumed in Athens, there was talk about having the Olympics remain in Athens. But the globalists back then vetoed that idea.

Personally, I think the U.S. should have its own Olympic games among the 50 states and U.S. territories.

[AntiGuv]

Yep, that's been a huge problem in several cases - including the Marathon route. BTW, in one of the new subway terminals (Syntagma if I remember right) they have a cross-section of the excavation behind glass where you can see several millennia of archeological layers. Very cool!

[PogySailor]

Didn't the '96 Atlanta games end up in the red?

[AntiGuv]

From my observation, the Olympics have been the bast thing that's happened to Athns since about 1828, IMHO...

[GnuHere]

Purely anecdotal, but I was on a trip down under in 2002 and our tour guide, who spoke several languages, had previously worked as a translator at the Sydney Olympics and for the Brazilian soccer team at numerous world events. He was extremely pessimistic about the Greeks being able to pull this off, citing mainly the rampant corruption in the construction field and politics also, with bribes being the currency of choice.

Since then, it has been interesting to follow the progress, or lack thereof, to see if his dire predictions come true.

[contessa machiaveli]

my thoughts exactly. i'm so not-concerned i wish they would cancel the entire thing.
greece hasn't been especially friendly to the US in decades and i keep flashing back to munich debacle.
and greece in the summer, yow.

[AntiGuv]

Huh?? No. The Atlanta Olympics were the first to return a pure profit, as a matter of fact - just not as big as originally hoped for and predicted.

The Sydney Olympics pulled a much larger profit (I think about $50 million) and the Athens Olympics are definitely expected to record a profit (due to proximity to Europe).

In cases before the Atlanta Olympics, they never made a profit (in terms of direct revenues vs expenditures) but the locale had a huge influx of infrastructure development and other funds (which is what I meant).

I'm a bit of an Olympics history buff, BTW.

[nypokerface]

They had all this time and only have it half completed. There is no way they will get this done in time. The IOC better start looking at another location and fast.

[cyborg]

I think it's a case of pride. As soon as they saw that happening, Greece should have bowed out of the Olympics. I'm sure it's easier said that done but I can only imagine how much money this is costing.