Progress, hiccups and no grass

Despite setbacks, the 2004 Games get a nod of approval from the IOC, including costcutting plans

Teen sensation. Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou, still just 19, made it to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon before succumbing to former world No. 1, Jennifer Capriati. The Greek tennis star, who won her first professional tournament last month in the Netherlands, is likely to be among the chief medal contenders at the Athens 2004 Olympics.

By John Ross - Kathimerini English Edition

Last week brought yet another visit to Athens by a sub-group of officials from the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Coordination Commission, led by Denis Oswald, the ninth in an ongoing series of these semi-regular, whirlwind progress update visits. For such a small group, it focused on a surprisingly wide array of topics, left journalists rather non-plussed as to what was actually happening (but no less belligerent at the session-ending press conference as a result), and produced a report card for Athens that was less effusive than the one in April but still for the most part positive, before the summer break. Except that Games preparations (and preparers) won’t be enjoying much of a break, either this summer or for the next two years, and then some.

The visit coincided with several newsworthy developments, two of which erupted just before the delegates arrived. One was the Council of State’s decision to uphold Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos’s suit against the suburban railway from the airport to Piraeus, putting part (but not all) of that project in jeopardy.

The other was the legal problems suddenly besetting the refitting of the Karaiskaki Stadium in Neo Faliron, where soccer games, including the final, have been slated. Now this too could be at risk (though this is denied by Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos), and if a replacement is needed it will have to be found in a hurry, and in Athens. But the candidate-list for replacement stadiums is lamentably short. So the pressure to sign the contract and start the work will be intense, and one assumes, eventually successful for that reason alone. Same with the railway.

Otherwise, several of the venues are running late and/or will be curtailed, especially those needing lots of space (e.g. hockey, baseball, canoe slalom) at Hellenikon, site of the old airport, which is hardly unexpected, given that work has fallen substantially behind schedule due to legal problems that were supposed to have been cleared up by now. It seems that the former airport is not quite former, as private planes are still using one of the runways. And several venues will have their aesthetic additions (grounds, air-conditioned VIP boxes, permanent seating, etc) cut back to save money, some 200-300 million euros, depending on whom you listen to.

According to Venizelos, who put his own spin on the visit in a separate press conference on Monday, this money has already been saved by contractors, with other savings of over 200 million euros still to come. Suddenly, we are talking about a potential half-billion euros of work being cut, which is not, as they say, chopped liver. Further from Athens, these cuts will include the lake for the rowing events at Schinias, which will be smaller than planned, cheering sullen environmentalists, and the horses of the showjumping competition will be jumping from and landing on sand, not grass, but that seems to be OK too with the federation involved. Grass is a bit of a problem under the relentless Mediterranean sun — even without a water shortage. It seems natural and even necessary for a government under budgetary pressure to cut non-essential corners; better still, it sounds environmentally positive, as more temporary stands will mean fewer permanent structures left to rust afterward; but it also sounds wearily familiar, with government and Athens 2004 interpreting the same things in different ways.

Yet for all this, Oswald sounded concerned but far from angry; perhaps all the progress made by Athens in the past year has put it over a psychological hump in terms of believability in delivering on promises. The changes seem acceptable as long as quality isn’t compromised for the athletes; Oswald insists, rightly, that the Games are primarily for the athletes themselves. More than one questioner even challenged Oswald’s rosy public overview, which was an odd turn; usually the IOC is accused of being the spoilsport. All in all, then, the preparations seem to have hit their stride, as these are the sorts of detail-oriented problems that every host city faces. And that alone represents a welcome element of normality.

Two other points also cropped up briefly. One was the fact that sports — which, evidence sometimes to the contrary, are the central focus of the Games — was tacked onto the bottom of a long day’s agenda of meeting topics last Wednesday. Items such as operations, test events, overlays (one of those terms thrown around which few really understand yet assume everybody else does), installation construction, transport, accommodation, accreditation, and city operations took precedent. Either this means that sports preparations are proceeding so smoothly that they can be de-emphasized, or else priorities are topsy-turvy. Presumably it’s the former. But with the first Olympics test event looming in early August (in sailing), sports will soon shoot up in priority.

The second thing was embedded in a brief response by Athens 2004 President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki to a rather curt question regarding media accreditation, that Athens would naturally and completely fulfill all of its obligations under the Olympic Charter. No one doubts that this is so, yet it was almost jarring to hear the issue brought up at all. It was the first mention of the Olympic Charter for ages. “Olympism,” free and fair competition for all, joyful participation without prejudice — all these terms and ideals seem out of context when it comes to building and preparing for these Games, which we have become conditioned to thinking of as the “Athens Games” rather than as the “Olympic Games.” But these principles are the bedrock of the effort. Perhaps they’re Games-time concerns, detached from time and budgetary pressures of the moment; we don’t yet have the luxury of pontificating on the meaning of it all. But the Athens 2004 president’s impassioned defense of all the work so far, and what it’s for, left little doubt that there is plenty of idealism behind the effort too.

For all their variety, Olympic athletes are still mostly thought of as track-and-fielders. But this year has produced another bona fide Greek medal hopeful in a sport few associate with the Olympics, tennis. Last month Eleni Daniilidou became the first-ever Greek winner of a professional circuit tennis tournament, male or female, winning the Ordina Open in the Netherlands on grass, a difficult surface, by beating three of the world’s top 14 players in the final three rounds, including No. 7 Justine Henin of Belgium and, in the final, Russia’s Elena Dementieva. With her imposing serve, groundstrokes and court presence, she stretched former world No. 1 Jennifer Capriati to three sets at Wimbledon on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the world’s most prestigious tournament before bowing out (Capriati, Olympic gold medalist in 1992 and last year’s great tennis comeback story, also beat her in three sets at the Australian Open in January).

With tennis having become an Olympic sport only in 1988, Daniilidou’s entry will draw big crowds to the soon-to-be-renovated tennis complex and perhaps new young converts to the game in Greece. Just last month the International Tennis Federation, visiting Athens, said that 2004 tennis will likely be “just as stunning as at Sydney.”

Two other factors are in her favor: Some top players will choose not to compete, due to the rigors of the regular circuit, and some will be too old (tennis and soccer being subject to an age limit of 23 for players). The Thessaloniki native will be just 21 for the Games. Barring injury and assuming her current trajectory continues (starting the year 84th in the world, she was 38th last week and seems destined for at least the 20s), she’ll be a genuine medal threat, with all the burden of expectation that brings. Like the horses, tennis players won’t be performing on grass in Athens.