SPORT: On a Tricky Track to the Olympics

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Hilmi Toros

ISTANBUL, Aug 22 2003 (IPS) - Preparations for the 2004 Olympics are back on track after a shaky start, say officials in Athens, the land of their birth.. But some have their doubts.

"We will be ready, there is no doubt about that," says Gianna Angelopoulos- Daskalaki, president of the Athens Olympic Games Organising Committee (ATHOC). The "Iron Lady" as she is known, promises "magical games".

Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis says he is "under no illusion that everything is perfect, but it’s because of this that we’re going ahead with determination and consistency."

The Games will be held from Aug. 13 to Aug. 29 next year.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), in a sharp about-turn from earlier comments when it declared the Games in "danger", now seems satisfied with the state of preparedness.

The organising committee will be "ready in due time" to extend formal invitations to a record 201 national Olympic committees, says IOC president Jacques Rogge. That is four more than the 197 invited to the Sydney Olympics. The new additions are East Timor, Kiribati, Afghanistan and Iraq.

There are some reasons for optimism.

Athens is now a massive construction site, even if that means that only a touch of its ancient glory remains amid a mishmash of concrete blocks. Athens is changing for the Games.

The Eleftherios Venizelos Airport is Europe’s newest. The Metro boasts 19 new state-of-the art stations. Dozens of sports venues are being built or refurbished. Illegally parked cars are ticketed. Taxi drivers are acquiring good manners. The notorious nefos – smog – is reported down 35 percent, allowing the return of the owl, the ancient emblem of Athens.

But not all share official optimism around such changes. Test runs for selected events earlier this month had their problems.

Equestrians complained of spectator noise – the ringing of cell phones that is û around a sport that requires total silence. Cyclists ran into pigeons. An outbreak of salmonella left the German team too sick to compete in the rowing event. Gale force winds brought rowing to a halt, and some boats capsized in choppy waters. A Ukrainian archery coach was bitten by a stray dog. Local reports say some volunteers (already hard to find) quit because of transportation problems.

Such instances "ring alarm bells," the leading national daily Kathimerini commented. "No one, of course, expects the Olympics organisers to control the weather or to themselves prepare the meals of athletes. But they must quickly tackle organisational issues that threaten to torpedo next year’s Games, resulting in the humiliation of this country."

Angelopoulos-Daskalaki says Athens lost two years to bureaucratic infighting. It is now clear that the roof of the main stadium will be ready only next June at best.

There are concerns over lack of accommodation for the expected 1.5 million visitors, and over matters such as tolerance to prostitution. But the overriding concern is security.

Local newspapers report lapses, including a failure to detect explosives brought to a competition site during a security drill. A suggestion by Australians that they would like to handle their own security drew sharp rebuke from an Athens spokesman. "Greece is a sovereign state and it will guarantee the safety of the Games," he said.

But it was eventually conceded that many teams have insisted on their own security in the past. The Australians will bring four unarmed police officers to escort athletes downtown.

The massacre of 16 Israeli athletes by Palestinian gunmen at the 1972 Olympics and the bomb explosion at Atlanta in 1996 may be distant memories. But this is the first Olympics of the post Sep. 11 era.

Precautions will be heavy. The 2000 Sydney Games security chief Peter Ryan is already reported to have convinced the U.S. basketball team to stay put in the athletes’ village.

Athens has drawn up an elaborate 600 million dollar security plan. In addition, organisers have formed an international committee for security matters, even if only to exchange information and know-how ahead of the Olympics.

Greece will be the smallest country hosting the Olympics since Finland in 1952. It must hope that all the 12 gods of Olympus will be on its side.

After all, as Greeks see it the Olympics are coming home. It was here that the Olympics began with a foot race at the sacred Olympia in 776 BC in honour of Zeus, supreme of all gods. Those games were for the Greeks, not for "barbarians", women and slaves.

The Olympics were revived in 1896 in Athens. The ancient city is attempting to show now that it is up to modern challenges.