>> Athens 2004 - the OLYMPICS thread <<

[to]

Yesterday night Italian Television Rai done a Dossier about Athens 2004

Great!
Athens and Greece the Mother of Europe

Ciao !!!

[Cobi]

@gm2263:
Efharisto for the information. I was kind of afraid that there was indeed an online shop and I didn't notice. Back in 2000 I wanted to buy a poster with the official logo but by the time I made my order, they had none left and I had to buy other design that I didn't like that much. I don't want that to happen again, especially now that the Olympics are in my beloved Athens.

Kherete!

[gm2263]

Thank you all guys for your kind words. !!! wait for more in the near future. Actually, the test events will start soon and we will have plenty to talk about. From September onwards they expect to inaugurate a project per week in Athens so it's gonna be fun.

[gm2263]

Events test readiness

Athens goes onto an Olympics footing, a year before Games start


Reported by the
Kathimerini newspaper on August 5, 2003



A jubilant Athens 2004 president Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki speaks at yesterday’s official opening of the World Junior Rowing Championships at the Schinias Olympic rowing venue near Marathon, north of Athens. The championships will be the first of a series of seven test events to be held this month, one year before the opening of the 2004 Games. Rowers complained of strong winds.


A year before the start of the Athens Olympics, the city is almost in full Olympic mode, with the hosting of seven test events this month, and 32 more to follow from October until June 2004.

The first test event, the World Junior Rowing Championships, will start tomorrow and finish on Saturday. Yesterday, the opening ceremony was held for the rowing center at Schinias, northeast of Athens. It was attended, among others, by Denis Oswald, the chief overseer of Athens's preparations. Oswald, a member of the International Olympic Committee's Executive Board, is also the president of the International Rowing Federation (FISA).

Only one test event has been conducted so far, a sailing competition in August 2002.

The events, which will be attended by a total of 1,600 athletes and 460 event officials, as well as 2,000 volunteers, will test the adequacy of facilities and organization. According to the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee, «the aim is to identify potential errors or deficiencies, which will then be analyzed so as to avoid them at (the time of the) Games.»

A total of 2,695 policemen, soldiers, firefighters and «security volunteers» will be deployed to guarantee security at «an Olympics level,» and there will be several road closures and traffic diversions. For the first test event, rowing, Schinias Avenue, between Kato Souliou and Poseidonos avenues, will be closed to traffic between 6.30 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. and between noon and 3 p.m. each day from tomorrow through Saturday.

The test events may seek to simulate Olympic conditions, but most of the venues in which they will take place are not complete. The security communications system will not be in place, either.

The 557 athletes from 45 countries taking part in the rowing event have already found that strong winds, which are quite frequent, made training impossible. Officials were privately saying that tall trees would need to be planted along both banks of the 2,000-meter course. Oswald, who had asked about tree-planting in general in the past, had made the self-evident remark that «trees need time to grow.»

If IOC chief Jacques Rogge's remarks in an interview published in yesterday's Ta Nea newspaper are an indication, Olympic officials are chiefly worried about transport.

«The transfer of everyone taking part in the Olympics is one of the riskiest points on which the IOC lay especial importance,» Rogge said, adding that «I can now express my complete satisfaction with the progress of preparations for the Games in Athens - progress in all areas is clear.»

my view

It is only one year before the games start and despite many delays observed in the past, with numerous red flags waved by the members of the IOC, looks like things are going into a smooth finish, as far as works progress is concerned. My only objection (since I am an aviation fan too) is that the site of the rowing events was a general aviation airport before the land was reclaimed to be used as an Olympic installation site. Too bad, there are no general aviation airports in Athens right now, besides the expensive new Athens International Airport.

Of course, the new 16km2-large Eleftherios venizelos airport can cater for the large numbers of the visitors aircraft expected to land in Athens during the games. However the need of a general aviation airport becomes urgent as even the old Hellenikon airport to the south-east of Athens is now converted into a complex of Olympic installations and a congress centre (in 2007 it will be one of the biggest in Europe FYI).

[Monkey]

Well, Sports Illustrated isn't exactly The Economist , but today their online edition carries an article describing Jacques Rogge, the head of the IOC, as being satisfied with the Athens preparations and confident that all projects & other arrangements will be ready and in place in time for the opening day, August 13, 2004.

Two other articles are offered at the bottom of the page.

[gm2263]

Under scrutiny

Heads to roll over Athens blunders -- newspapers


ATHENS (Reuters) -- Aug 11, 2003

Greek newspapers slammed their 2004 Olympic Games organizers Sunday for disarray during test events that ranged from teams getting lost to security lapses to a food poisoning outbreak.

Headlines compared boats going under water at the rowing venue in the opening test for next August's Games to the sinking of the Titanic and forecast heads would soon roll at the highest level to make up for the blunders.

The newspapers said Athens Games chief Gianna Angelopoulos and Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who held a special meeting to discuss the disarray, were both furious.

They were annoyed that in-fighting appeared to have broken out again between government and Games officials about who was in charge of the Olympics.

"Mistakes have been discovered in the planning of sports events, in hospitality, among volunteers, while communications and crisis management functions didn't work," the respected newspaper Eleftherotypia, one of the country's largest, and normally pro-government, said.

Eleftherotypia listed a host of blunders, particularly with the Skinias rowing test event about 30 km (20 miles) from Athens, where competition was held up for nearly two days because of winds that caused U.S. and British boats to sink.

The paper said that 24 percent of volunteers involved in the event changed their minds about giving their services to the Olympics after their first contact with the Skinias venue.

Some simply abandoned their posts, claiming they were put off by difficulties in getting to the venue using public transport.

Lost buses

Eleftherotypia said teams from South Korea and the Ukraine went missing for hours after their buses got lost on their way from the new Athens international airport to their accommodation near the rowing venue.

"It is certain that much will change after the test events. Gianna Angelopoulos is threatening (everyone) within 2004," the newspaper said.

Other newspapers zeroed in on security lapses, including claims that some officers were not able to operate high technology screening and communications equipment.

A row over the withdrawal of Germany's team from the rowing event with food poisoning rumbled on.

A government inspection of the hotel where the 63 Germans are believed to have caught salmonella found 13 hygiene breaches a month before the event.

"The responsible authorities are investigating all possible sources of the infection, however experts are focusing their attention on the hygiene and dietary conditions at the lodgings of the German delegation," Athens Organizing Committee (ATHOC) managing director Marton Simitsek said in a statement.

"Even though this could be described as an isolated incident, the state and Athens 2004 will assume all necessary measures to prevent its recurrence and all those responsible will be accounted for," Simitsek added.

The setbacks have added up to an unfortunate start for organizers hoping to show during a month of venue testing in August that much-criticized preparations are back on track.

Venues for beach volleyball, cycling, sailing, archery, canoeing and show jumping will be test this month with more than 1,600 athletes from 50 countries taking part.

Eleftherotypia forecast that unless there were drastic changes there would be more trouble ahead before the actual Olympics start next August 13.

Test events continue with Archery as winds abate
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- With strong seasonal winds abating Sunday, the world's top men archers competed in the second day of a pre-Olympic test event held in the marble stadium that hosted the first modern Olympiad.

On Saturday, women archers battled strong winds that forced an extra effort to flex their bows.

Although the gusts were not fierce enough to cancel or alter the women's competition -- as they did with a rowing test event that ended Saturday -- they added to concerns that the seasonal "meltemia" winds could complicate the Olympic homecoming next year for some sports.

"Today it was much better than the other day when we went for practice, a little calmer," said Richard Johnson of the United States, who ranks among the top 10 archers in the world.

He said that winds swirling through the horseshoe-shaped stadium that hosted the first modern Olympics in 1896 made it difficult to flex the bow for the amount of time required to get a good line on the target.

"If it is going to be windy, it is going to be a pretty nasty wind. If they can stop the wind for the rest of the tournament, life can begin again," he added.

Sunday's men's competition, which started with the individual eliminations, also featured world champion Michele Frangilli of Italy and Australian David Barnes, who won the bronze medal in last month's world championships.

Frangilli said he was satisfied with the organization of the event so far but said the wind was a problem affecting the performance of the athletes.

"There was no wind today. That was good," said Frangilli who advanced easily to the next round. "Only the wind is the problem for an archer."

The men and women's archery event ends on Aug. 15.

More than 100 athletes from 29 countries are taking part in the archery test event in the Panathinaiko stadium. It will also serve as the finish line for the Olympic marathon race.

The stadium -- built on a site first used for athletics more than 2,300 years ago -- is being furbished for the 2004 Games. Cranes and marble cutting equipment served as a backdrop for the archery competition.

Other test events scheduled this month include: equestrian eventing, beach volleyball, cycling and sailing.

[gm2263]

A work in progress

Athens in an Olympic building frenzy with a year to go


Picture: Continuing works on the Palaion Phaleron Pavillion, part of a HUGE regeneration of the Athenian coastal front



ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Aug 9, 2003

On a hillside where gypsies used to live outside this ancient city, a concrete maze of buildings is taking shape as workers scurry to finish the dusty road leading to it.

By this time next year, it's supposed to be home to 17,300 Olympic athletes and officials. For now, it's a work in progress, much like everything around Athens.

Throughout the city, cranes litter the sky, roads are torn up and construction stops and starts in fits. Greece is teetering toward the 2004 Summer Olympics with a $5.1 billion makeover of the birthplace of the modern games.

There's a spanking new airport, a new subway system complete with archaeological displays, and miles of freshly paved roads. A light rail system is being built, and stadiums and arenas seem to be under construction everywhere.

Nearly everything is late, after years of delays. But the Greeks are confident it will all be completed by the time the Olympic cauldron is lit next Aug. 13.

"There were a lot of problems when I first came here," Greek sports minister Nasos Alevras said. "These days we feel better. The situation is very encouraging."

The sudden urgency with which Greece is attacking the task has brought smiles to international Olympic officials, who once threatened to take the games away.

Just three years ago, Jacques Rogge was in charge of an International Olympic Committee task force that told bickering organizers and Greek officials to get their act together -- and quickly.

Now, Rogge is the president of the IOC and sees an Olympics that will blend the roots of the games with a modern sports spectacle.

"I'm confident because I know the love for the games that the Greeks have," Rogge said. "They are very capable once they have decided to work very hard."

Working hard, they are. The $340 million Olympic Village that was little more than a garbage-strewn hillside less than two years ago now actually resembles a village.

But the preparations are causing major disruptions to the lives of Athenians who aren't quite sure what the city has gotten itself into.

"Greece has no need for this," said Stella Alfieri, a former member of Parliament and deputy mayor. "It already has its history and culture that everyone knows. In the end it will have a serious, serious effect on our everyday life."

That effect is visible around Athens, where 20 years' worth of badly needed infrastructure work is being packed into two years to prevent gridlock on streets so crowded that Athenians are allowed to drive their cars into the city's center only every other day.

There's even scaffolding around the Parthenon as the nearly 2,500-year-old landmark gets a facelift.

When it's done -- if it's done -- Athens will host 17 days of competition next summer that officials hope will showcase the city to the world as a major center for tourism and business.

While Greeks grumble about the mess and worry about who is going to pay for it all, the government promises the Olympics will make Athens a better place to live and provide a much needed boost to the economy.

"This will be the center of the world for two weeks," Alevras said. "This is very important for a country that gets a lot of income from tourism."

Indeed, the stakes are high for a country rich in Olympic history yet burdened with the reality of staging the mammoth spectacle the Olympics have become.

Greece has a population of only 10.6 million, and it is dependent on the whims of tourism. Yet it is borrowing some of the billions to stage the games amid worries that the tab could go much higher.

Athens is in a race against time as it frantically tries to get ready for an Olympics that will bear little resemblance to the first modern games it staged 108 years earlier.

It shows at the old airport where workers scurry about retrofitting an old hangar to use for basketball preliminaries. And it's evident at the athletes' village, where 2,300 Greek families will live after the games.

"Greeks are very nervous about the games," said Katerina Barbosa, an executive helping build the sprawling athletes' village. "They were born here and they don't want to have the worst games ever."

Olympic officials don't want them to, either. They've kept close watch on the preparations in Athens ever since former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch warned in May 2000 that the city could lose the games.

Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, who led the winning-bid effort, was brought back to head the organizing committee, and organizers and government officials stopped much of their bickering and began working together.

"The Greek people, I believe that they are not afraid," Angelopoulos-Daskalaki said. "They want to deliver an historic ... exciting Olympic Games."

The athletes' village is one of the few construction bright spots so far, four months ahead of schedule and ready to be delivered to the Athens Organizing Committee by February. That and the $91 million state-of-the-art rowing venue were the only sites organizers wanted journalists to see on a recent tour.

Still, in another troubling sign, the games' first test, at the rowing center, was called off Thursday because of strong winds. The conditions disrupted the four-day World Junior Rowing Championships and heightened doubts about the decision to build the center in Schinias, a coastal area about 20 miles from Athens and known for sustained summer winds.

Elsewhere, most of the main sports venues are still steel skeletons, if that. Pieces of the main stadium roof, designed to be an architectural highlight of the games, have just arrived, and work began only recently on the boxing arena.

Behind a fence and guarded gates at the city's old airport, a former hangar that will host the basketball preliminaries appears gutted, and only the early steel work is done on the baseball and softball stadiums.

Already, the construction problems have forced organizers to move back other test events, making a tight schedule even tighter. The first planned test of the main Olympic stadium is now set for June, just two months before the games.

There are worries that the frantic rush to finish means Athens will pay a price in slipshod construction. There are also concerns that the venues, such as the rowing center, will serve little purpose after the Olympics.

Even so, Greeks are rallying around the flag to show they can pull off the games.

"This will be proof of the capacity of our government and people to make big things," culture minister Evangelos Venizelos said. "It's not easy, but now it's very natural. We didn't have much experience with this before."

Some Athenians, though, worry they will end up being stuck with the bill.

"The Greek people will have to pay for it after the Olympics," 72-year-old retiree Emanuel Manggiros said. "But it has to do with the national pride and I'm proud they're coming back to Greece."

In addition to the $5.1 billion the government is spending, the organizing committee has a $2.5 billion budget to run the games.

The city itself borrowed $136 million to give buildings a fresh coat of paint, pour new sidewalks and plant thousands of trees in places visitors will see.

Yes, stray dogs will continue to run the streets because the Greeks couldn't bring themselves to remove the animals. And prostitutes in legal brothels will either be working overtime or protesting government interference, as they did on a recent summer day.

But Greeks are counting on the blend of modern Olympics and ancient history to make an indelible impression on the world and lure future tourists.

"Athens has a very good opportunity to show a new, improved look," alternate Mayor Theodore Skilakakis said. "It's going to look much better both for our sake and for the sake of visitors a year from now."

Assuming it all comes together in time, the event will be played out underneath a spectacular backdrop. The marathon will be run on the original route from the ancient city of Marathon to the marble stadium used in the 1896 Games.

Cyclists will race beneath the Acropolis, and visitors will walk the streets of the Plaka, where Socrates and Plato used to hang out. This is the country where the Olympics began in 776 B.C., and the city where they were reborn.

"The look of the games will be very special," Rogge said. "There are great cultural assets that the Greeks are very proud of. They invented the games, and there will be lots of reminiscence and links with the ancient games."

In 1896, 245 athletes from 14 countries gathered for the first modern Olympics before large and excited crowds in the ancient Panathenaic stadium.

Americans won nine of the 12 track and field events, but Greece won the most medals, with Spyridon Louis winning the marathon on the same course covered by the Greek hero Pheidippides after the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.

The first modern games were such a success that Greece's King George suggested they be held every four years in Athens. It's taken them more than a century to return, and this time they will include more than 10,000 athletes from a record 201 countries with a massive infrastructure in place to stage it all.

Even if construction is finished, however, there are other issues. Security is a worry despite a $600 million plan to protect a country that has porous borders and its own homegrown terrorist group, November 17.

The Athens heat can be stifling in August, there may not be enough quality hotel rooms despite the use of cruise ships in the harbor, and transportation remains a big question mark.

Some Athenians wonder if the city will wake up with a huge Olympic hangover after the games.

"The country is using its money to make venues that the day after the Olympics will be useless," Alfieri said. "And there are parts of Athens with history and cultural importance that will be destroyed by these games."

All the money is being spent while the Greek economy is shaky, 10 percent of the people are out of work despite the building boom, and people struggle to adapt to higher prices caused by the adoption of the euro.

On a recent evening in the Plaka, 62-year-old Peter Nekopoelis was trying to make a living by luring tourists to a small bar where they would pay exorbitant prices to buy drinks for women who work there.

"Life is very hard now. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing," Nekopoelis said. "We pay prices of Europe, but we don't get European things."

Politicians, though, are counting on the games to remake Athens as a tourist destination, hoping that 17 days of worldwide television exposure will bring back visitors who in recent years merely passed through the city on the way to the Greek islands.

"It's very expensive if it's just for two weeks," Venizelos said. "But not at all expensive if we make the wider consideration of the post-Olympic period. It's for a better every day life of Greek society and also a new platform for the Greek economy."

Whether that happens depends a lot on how smoothly and successfully the games come off.

Organizers say Atlanta and Sydney had their own problems a year out, and Atlanta was never able to resolve transportation issues that plagued those games.

For Athens, it won't be until closing ceremonies that the Olympics can be judged, Rogge said.

"It's just like in sports. You may train as much as you can, prepare as well as you can, but you still have to make the competition," he said. "When you go to the final night of the last day, only then will you know if you are successful."

[gm2263]

Once upon a time the Egyptians had told visiting ancient Greeks that "Greeks are always like children" (Ellines aei paides eisin in ancient Greek). The funny part is that Greeks may find out the hard way that not everything is a child's game in this short and miserable life that we live during our temporary existence on this planet we call Earth. Well. Let them learn.

I can't remember the name of a scholar who once said that Greeks are capable for the best and for the worse. It would be useful to have him around to see what his opinion would be about the current situation.

Some changes in the city of Athens are far too obvious for one not to see them. In the slope of mount Hymettus near the suburb of Papagos where I live, nothing reminds the quiet landscape where we used to drive with our girlfriends in order to drink beer, listen to music and... you know the rest. In a few days, part of the Athens ring road, the 12km south branch of the Attica road (Attiki Odos) will be ready, and the famous K30 junction, not the biggest of the nearly 40+ or so that will be part of this road, is now completed, after years and years of fights between the municipal councils of Papagos and the neighbouring suburbs and many other interest groups including the "Environmental Group Hymettus" amongst others.

Will this road alleviate the congestion of the packed Messogion Avenue according to the central authorities plans or will simply flood Papagos with bypassing cars? who knows? In a few days the 'mountain" as we used to call called this romantic area of our adolescence where our first surges of youth found fertile grounds to consummate, will not be as quiet as it used to be. For the better or the worse? We'll see

Overall, I trust that the games will be much more than a near (or real disaster). However, always having been an anti-Greek as far as the bad aspects of being a Greek are conserned, I will repeat: Let them learn. My compatriots have to prove that Athens (and Greece) is not a underdeveloped, dry, hot part of the world and steps have been taken towards this direction. Also, they have to learn that when you sign up for something of the magnitude of such an undertaking (modern summer Olympic games, that is) the world will not forgive you in case of failure for the sake of some glorious ruins and a glorious past. Present is present and past is past. So, I will repeat: Let them learn.

I believe that the games will be successful and that Athens is transforming partially into the city it deserves to be (with some modern skyscrapers still missing but that's another story ). On the whole however, I will wait for a full account of this first array of test events to draw conclusions about the imminent success or failure of the upcoming games.

One thing though: I wish we had death penalty by stone throwing. This biped primary mammal that fed the German rowing athletes with food inelligible for human consumption deserved it if he was the responsible one for this. I can forgive the weather but not such a bastard. him, I would't get a clean shot on. I'd let him suffer before dying.

[Prometheus]

Test events successful

Participants praise Olympic venues, flustered by pigeons
AP

Magdalena Sadlecka of Poland is handed a bottle of
water as cyclists competing yesterday in the women’s Under-23 European Road Championships
past the Athens Municipal Cultural Center on
Academias Street. The Olympic test event led to
of the city center being cordoned off to traffic
most of the day yesterday. Fortunately, most of
the city’s residents were still away on holiday.

Organizers of the Athens 2004 Olympics, which faced
a series of problems at the beginning of a series of
«test events» earlier this month, were relieved over the
weekend as four of those events were completed with barely a hitch.

One event, an archery tournament at the Panathenaic Stadium, finished on Friday. Three more, an
equestrian event at Markopoulo, a canoe-kayak flatwater event at the rowing center at Schinias, near
Marathon, and the two-stage Under-23 European Cycling Championships, held in the Vouliagmeni
area and in the center of Athens, were wrapped up yesterday.

This time around, there was much praise for the venues.

Belgium's Marc Vandervyvere - a four-time Tour de France competitor and an official observer for
international cycling's ruling body UCI for the last two Olympic Games at Atlanta and Sydney - had
high praise for the road race course through the center of Athens.

«The course is truly wonderful and I would even say entertaining,» he said of its route past the many
historical monuments and archaeological sites that dot Athens.

International show jumper Andrew Hoy, who has competed in five Olympics, said facilities at the riding
course, including the crucial veterinary clinic, were «marvelous.»

But one of the judges at the equestrian event suggested crowd control could be improved at the
dressage event.

«For this event it should be as quiet as a church,» said German judge Christoph Hess. The crowd, which
was far from capacity and which mainly included officials and about 250 spectators provided with a
special pass, did not keep quiet and cellphones repeatedly rung during the event.

Also, cyclists yesterday encountered numerous pigeons on roads around the Acropolis. «The pigeons
could cause problems,» said the head of the European Cycling Federation, Vladimir Holoecek, before
praising the police, which succeeded in turning central Athens into a traffic-free zone. Barriers closed
roads throughout the cycling course, with volunteers and police making sure that passers-by used the
available crossing points without interfering with the race.

At Markopoulo, a minor incident occurred on Saturday, when Greece's ex-King Constantine tried to
attend the event without a pass. Constantine, a gold medallist in sailing at the 1960 Olympics, has
been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1963. He was eventually issued with a
spectator's pass.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w.../08/2003_33069

[gm2263]

Yes, it appears that the first series of the test events were successful with the exception of the rowing event. I must also point out that from September to July we will see construction works being completed almost every week. The only works that need to be monitored (and the most spectacular IMO are the ones related to the Olympic Stadium where the famous design of Santiago Kalatrava is to be implemented. However, one can already see four iron towers, each about one about 80m tall already having been erected with the purpose to lift the gigantic construction once it is assembled on the ground. God I love this one!!! Once completed it will give Maroussi skyline a good addition.

Also, I don't have any news about a HUGE entertainment centre which was to be built next to one of the "Press Villages" in Maroussi, containing some 20 movie theatres and countless shops. The state council (symvoulio tis epikratias) said that land usage was above the legal provisions for the area "building coefficients" but I reckon that it will also be ready on time.

At the moment (mid-August), Athens is an empty city (2/3 of the population are on vacation) something which extremely facilitates the work of the construction crews.

Also, Prime Minister Kostas Simitis has visited the works on the coastal front escorted by the 2 "iron ladies" Vasso Papandreou, Minister of Public Works and Yanna Angelopoulou, President of the Athens 2004 organisation. True, the installations of the Beach volley and many other medium-sized stadiums there (all between 5-10,000 spectators) seem to be rapidly progressing, along with the one of the biggest regeneration projects ever realised in Europe, which will result in the "renaissance" of the coastal front from Pireaus to Aghios Kosmas, a distance of some 5-7km that is.

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

Hi boys and girls,i am back from Crete,happy n good winter to all

Here is the new "Faliro Arena"











all pics from Stadia.gr

[gm2263]

Thanks very much Konstantinoupolis!!! and welcome back. Too bad I didn't have the opportunity to fo to Crete this summer too... I re-post here the surrounding area of the Faliro Arena so that our friends get a better idea of the works in progress there.



Also, yesterday I was in the Maroussi Carrefur restaurant where from the ground level you can see the Olympic stadium with the new pylons which will lift S. Calatrava's roofs once they will be completed. Their height is between 80 to 100m and I must add the bitter note that they are the first constructions of such a height in Greece after 1980 when the Atrina Centre was completed!!!

[Christianmx]

!!!!!!!!


I'm just blown away by all the wonderful architecture Athens will display for the olympics. What a wonderful place and what a wonderful city!


THE OLYMPICS ARE GOING BACK HOME, AND THEY ARE GOING BACK
IN STYLE !!!!!!!!!!!!

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

Olympic Stadion-small update

"The pieces of the roof 's arcs are now being assembled with the help of the temporary metal "towers".A first part is already fitted together and now hangs over the stadium.The photo below was shot today"



from Stadia.gr

A closer look.The Olympic Stadion will be gigantic when its complete.A really work of art.



from Ethnos.gr

[De Snor]

Hi guys ,

I am reading this thread always until the last letter but I have some questions about all this ;

Where can I obtain a plan about all the Olympic activities about constructing & infrastructure ?

Does Athens have an urban plan available ?

[gm2263]

Hi everybody,

On Wednesday 3 September 2003, a significant part of the Athens ring road system (Attiki Odos or Attica Road, where Attica is the prefecture where Athens belongs FYI) became operational, namely the south branch of the main road which passes along the slope of mount Hymettus (Imittos in Greek). This part of the system which is some 12 km in length will allow the unobstructed access of the eastern suburbs of Athens to the north the north-east and the west of Athens, including the two national roads, the Athens Olympic Complex in Maroussi-Kalogreza and the Athens International Airport. A small branch of 1.5 km will also be delivered in March 2004.

Click here to read more about this road, but beware that the pics there are two years old ). Also, by clicking here you can access the Attiki Odos website (content in English) for further info. It is worth visiting it as it contains useful info about the full project.

If we take a look at the map below we can see the full development of the Attiki Odos which is the long green road.



Now, the Hymettus branch is the blue section 9 in the following map. You can compare the two maps in order to position it in the Athens area.



The road is a 6 lane (2+1 ancillary side lane) to 8- lane (3+1) toll motorway with no traffic lights and 5 intersections which also include the toll stations for all directions. The "Papagos" intersection is approx. 1 km from my house (I live in Papagos or "Papagou" suburb on the slope of the mountain.

The road is completed after a very long series of appeals and debates of NIMBY citizen interest groups and the municipal authorities of the suburbs of Papagos, Cholargos and Aghia Paraskevi which caused a total completion delay of three years. However, due to their interventions, some 7.5 km of tunnels were built in order to allow for the environmental protection of the mountain. Also, some 200,000 trees were planted on both sides of the highway in order to create a natural sound barrier and to compensate for the trees that were cut during the construction of the highway.

Some factoids worth mentioning:

-Expected traffic: 30,000 to 50,000 vehicles daily
-Tunnels: 22 tunnels at a total length of 7.5 km out of the highway's total length of 13.56 km which were constructed with the "cut and cover" method
-Sound barriers: 3.5km in length.
-Junctions: 5 main plus 23 airbridges plus 2 footbridges.
-Other Technology aspects:

Use of Photometres and light sensors for variable lighting in the tunnels so as to compensate for poor or bright lighting conditions (which is a driving safety issue especially for the Greeks who are inexperienced in driving through tunnels).

Use of Cameras for safety reasons. These are connected with the control center of Attiki Odos.

Automated fire safety system for the total length of the tunnels which is supported by 8 big water tanks located in various positions on the slope of the mountain, above the level of the highway.

Ventilation system which also includes heat sensors and detection sensors for carbon monoxide. Also, the wiring and the electical installations of the highway are heat-resistant.

Finally, there is full support for mobile telephony and there are many emergency phones for use for the total length of the highway, especially in the tunnels.





I have driven on this road twice already despite the high toll fares (1.80 Euros for automobiles). It is a dream road to drive on and I also appreciate the fact that I can now be at the Athens airport after 15 minutes driving. I still remember however how quiet the mountain used to be before works began, especially some 20 years ago, when we used to drive there with our girlfriends and a bottle of hard liquor to give way to the first surges of our youth... Now, I see a highway that has nothing to be envious about compared to the best ones in Europe. It reminded me of the highways to the south of France (almost the same type of flora with the mount of Hymettus). On the other hand, I feel a kind of nostalgia for the parties we had there when it was all peace and quiet except for the music we played in our car stereos...

Ahhh... The times they are a changin' as Bob Dylan used to sing once...

[gm2263]

Originally posted by KONSTANTINOUPOLIS

Olympic Stadion-small update

"The pieces of the roof 's arcs are now being assembled with the help of the temporary metal "towers".A first part is already fitted together and now hangs over the stadium.The photo below was shot today"



from Stadia.gr

A closer look.The Olympic Stadion will be gigantic when its complete.A really work of art.



from Ethnos.gr

The black building to the left of the stadium is the 80-m tall, 20-storey Atrina centre. I am amazed to see that the Olympic stadium pylons look taller. True when completed, the stadium will look like an alien structure in origin.

I love that

[gm2263]

@ De Snor

You can find most of the information in a comprehensive form by clicking in the following address:

http://www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=200&la=2

At the bottom of the page there are links about almost anything you may ask for. Also, you may find this page useful:

http://www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?la=2&id=2027

Remember that all the above present generic information but the links at the bottom of the pages may be extremely useful and their contents are in English or at least have links to pages with English content.

A bientot mon ami. It's Friday night and I am about to go out. Thanks for visiting here...

Originally posted by gm2263

The black building to the left of the stadium is the 80-m tall, 20-storey Atrina centre. I am amazed to see that the Olympic stadium pylons look taller.

I somehow knew that this photo would find its way here
I was also sure you would make this comment, comparing Atrina with the temporary metal pylons of the Olympic Stadium

Still waiting for that email though!

[De Snor]

Originally posted by gm2263

@ De Snor

You can find most of the information in a comprehensive form by clicking in the following address:

http://www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?id=200&la=2

At the bottom of the page there are links about almost anything you may ask for. Also, you may find this page useful:

http://www.athens2004.com/page/default.asp?la=2&id=2027

Remember that all the above present generic information but the links at the bottom of the pages may be extremely useful and their contents are in English or at least have links to pages with English content.

A bientot mon ami. It's Friday night and I am about to go out. Thanks for visiting here...

Gregory , I've mailed the company who's responsable for the metro network and they shall send detailed info to my home !
Also the athens2004 site has been contacted to ask about an urban plan of the area > so far no response , even the city of Athens site recieved an e-mail for an urban plan of the Athens region > no news yet , and the Greek topurist agency is going to send me a giant poster with the Athens2004 logo on it !

Thanks for the links