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Athens no longer considers Games a 'financial disaster'
By Si Tingting (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-05-11 10:19
Athens has not recovered financially from hosting the most expensive Olympic Games to date but neither is it hemorrhaging money from its purpose-built stadiums as was originally feared, Greek officials said recently.
Two years ago the situation was much bleaker. Fears of the Olympic venues becoming white elephants were rampant and British daily The Observer even quoted Christos Hadjiemmanuil, president and CEO of Hellenic Olympic Properties SA, the state-run company responsible for the post-Olympic management of the Athens 2004 Olympic Facilities, as saying that: "Financially the Games were a disaster."
No longer. In Beijing recently to attend the 5th Sports Accord, Hadjiemmanuil told China Daily that Athens is not losing money from the 36 venues that were either purpose-built or upgraded for the 2004 Games.
Half of the sports facilities have been leased to the private sector for commercial use but all remain public property, he said.
The post-Games maintenance bill of the venues is usually a huge burden for host cities. Athens has to pay about $100 million a year for their upkeep.
"As many (venues) are shifted to the private sector, the cost is lower," Hadjiemmanuil said.
He and his colleague Spyros K. Cladas, general secretary for Olympic Utilization at Greece's Ministry of Culture, said Greece built its Olympic sports facilities with longer-term goals in mind to fully benefit the public.
During the design and construction stage, Athens gave much thought to the venues' post-Games utility, he said.
The designers combined them with the development of surrounding areas to be better integrated into the local community later, but only a few remain active for sporting purposes.
The main stadium, for example, is now recognized as a landmark in its own right and plays host to key soccer matches.
"Soccer, basketball, volleyball and water polo are the most popular sports in Greece and we kept their venues," said Cladas.
"We converted the venues for some sports which will never be viable in Greece for other purposes."
The venue for the weight-lifting event, for example, will soon be converted into a university campus, the badminton venue a theater, and the table tennis venue a leisure center, he said, adding that the Athens Games has transformed its citizens' lives like never before.
"It took the city four years to build a new railway system and airports, as it would take 15 years without the Games. Athens is a much better city after the Games," Hadjiemmanuil said.
It also meant more facilities were available to the public: part of the canoe-kayak course was even developed into a water park for families to enjoy.
"There are also more theaters than before where people can go for dramas and musicals," said Hadjiemmanuil.
"There is no Olympic legacy in Atlanta, even if the 1996 Atlanta Games was financially paid off," Hadjiemmanuil said by way of defending the huge cost of the Athens Games.
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