2004 Games could be ‘magical’
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said yesterday that Athens can host «magical Games» if it resolves the transport, accommodation and venue construction problems that have plagued the planning for the 2004 Olympics. On a visit to assess Greece’s troubled preparations for the Games, the IOC chief inspector for Athens, Denis Oswald, said, «If the basic technical requirements are met, if the transport works, if accommodation is secured, if the venues are finished on time and can be used by the best athletes of the world, then I am sure Greece will be able to make magical Games.» Oswald was speaking to reporters on the first day of a three-day visit, scheduled to tackle transport and accommodation problems, as well as security measures for the 2004 Summer Games. «This is the last big review of construction projects and we now enter organizational issues. It’s a critical visit,» said a source at the Athens organizing committee (ATHOC). The IOC has repeatedly expressed concern over the delays, bureaucracy and infighting dogging the Athens Olympics and issued veiled warnings that it would move the Games unless Greece started to meet its preparation deadlines. IOC officials are expected to issue their verdict at the end of the visit. «Some of the venues are ahead of schedule and some are behind. We’ll see in the next couple of days,» IOC Coordination Commission member Peter Tallberg told Reuters. IOC visitors will be taken on extensive tours spanning almost all of the Attica region to assess the progress of stadiums, water sports venues, the Olympic and press villages. Spotlight on security IOC officials, Greek police and army officers also met at ATHOC’s headquarters yesterday for a day-long session on security – an issue of increased importance after the September 11 attacks in the USA. ATHOC sources said Greece was close to signing a deal with foreign private security firms. «Ever since the Munich Games, there has been a very intense focus on security,» Sydney Games boss Michael Knight, who now advises Greek organizers, told reporters. «The Greek government has always been very conscious of the need for adequate security.» With the first test event set for August, Athens organizers said there was huge pressure to speed up work. «We keep pointing out that deadlines are stifling, that there is no margin to waste time,» ATHOC President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki told reporters while touring venues on Monday. Accommodation was one the most pressing problems for Greece, since the IOC said 2,800 rooms were missing for the Olympic family alone. ATHOC said it managed to reduce the number to 1,000, easily covered by a few new hotels. Accommodation for spectators remains a problem for Greece, whose sun-bleached islands draw about 13 million tourists a year and which is expected to receive even more in 2004. A plan to house visitors on islands and other holiday destinations and bring them to Athens on day trips to see the Olympics was still in the works but a scheme to rent out private Greek homes was more concrete. Greek organizers told the IOC they would soon announce a tender for firms to organize and lease private homes. «The target is to get about 15,000 homes,» ATHOC officials said. «We also pledged to announce in August the prices for rooms and cruise ships to client groups (IOC and federations).» Oswald had also expressed concern over transport during his last visit in February, after Greece canceled some road projects because there was no time to finish them before the Games. Transport Minister Christos Verelis pledged on Tuesday that a suburban railway, seen as key to Olympic transport, would be finished by 2004. The 2004 mascot will also be unveiled at a special ceremony today.
