The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Winning the race to be ready

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Saturday, Jul 24, 2004

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Sport - Olympic Games

Winning the race to be ready

By Duncan Mackay

ATHENS, JULY 23. Defying predictions the Games look like being on time. The award of them to Athens may have turned the hair of some senior members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) white, brought the possibility of international humiliation on Greece and pushed many Athenians to the brink of nervous breakdown with the constant building work. But, even if the last lick of paint is applied five minutes before the opening ceremony on August 13, the Greek capital should be ready.

Greeks had in recent months become exhausted with Athens's delayed preparations for the Games, which have led to endless traffic jams in the capital. Many have been worried too about the huge financial strain generated by Olympic preparations, which have nearly tripled the cost for the Games to an estimated $7.29bn (£3.94bn) from the time of their award in 1997.

The Finance Minister, Giorgos Alogoskoufis, said that, if Greece were to bid for the Games today, "I don't think we would be as excited."

Euro euphoria

But the hugely unexpected victory of the country's football team at Euro 2004 is being credited with leading to a marked change in the public sentiment. Millions celebrated Greece's success with impromptu street parties. They woke up the next morning with a giant hangover but also with a newly discovered determination to make the Olympics work. Recently published polls show public interest is higher than it has been for more than a year.

"The historic victory of the soccer team is the best promotion of Greece internationally," said Seraphim Kotrotsos, the spokesman for the Athens organisers.

With less than half of the 5.3 million tickets for the Olympics sold so far, organisers also hope the European triumph will help lure Greeks to stadiums. The lack of sales is put down to the Greeks' resistance to planning anything ahead, even preparing for the biggest sports event on earth.

Most Athenians appreciate the benefits of a wonderful new metro system, the state-of-the-art international airport and the impressive motorway around the city that has turned an hour stop-and-go trip into a 15-minute breeze. The Olympics could leave Athens with years of debt and white elephant stadiums but what it has done for the capital is remarkable, giving it its biggest makeover for nearly 3,000 years.

Nevertheless its citizens are still breathing a huge sigh of relief that it is nearly over. "Athens was a very difficult city to live in for the last three years," acknowledged Dora Bakoyianni, the city mayor.

When the first modern Olympics were held here in 1896 the city had about 100,000 people. Today greater Athens is a concrete jungle of more than 4 million people.

"Athens was on the verge of becoming unmanageable," said Bakoyianni. "But in September it will be a wonderful place."

Santiago Calatrava, the Spanish architect in charge of the redevelopment of the Olympic stadium, has said he believes Athens's regeneration ahead of the Games surpasses that of Barcelona before the 1992 Olympics.

"I think Greece has deservedly won respect for its efforts in the past few years, not just at the Olympic Stadium but all the Games projects," he said. "I have seen Barcelona, Montreal and Munich but I think that Athens is not just equal to Barcelona but it is more important."

Massive security

Volunteers are already at the airport waiting to welcome the first of the 10,500 athletes from a record 201 countries, along with the hundreds of thousands of spectators. The massive security operation is relatively discreet at the moment but the closer the Games approach the more Athens will begin to resemble a militarised zone.

A record $1.5bn (£812m) has been spent on trying to ensure the Games pass off without incident. A seven-country security advisory group led by Britain is working closely in conjunction with Greek forces. More than 70,000 police officers and soldiers will be on duty. NATO is lending air-and-sea support, and the Israeli and Greek navies, along with the US 6th Fleet, are patrolling the coast.

But, as if to show that no operation is ever foolproof, two small bombs were hurled at a culture ministry building here on Thursday. There were no injuries. Yet even the fear of a terrorist attack is doing little to dull the growing belief that these Games will be a success.

"We Greeks succeed even when things are haphazard," said the head of the Greek Orthodox Church Archbishop Christodoulos. "This is a Greek screw-up, which is inherent in our character. But in some miraculous way it produces good results." —

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