Athens Is Far From Ready

In a diplomatic but frank exchange that made clear the herculean nature of the task ahead, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge on Wednesday told Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis that the government has lagged dramatically in readying for the 2004 Games and that there can be no more delay.

Afterward, Rogge, in a statement containing his strongest and most direct warning to date, said that the “task ahead for the construction sector is unparalleled in the history of Greece, and time continues to tick away.”

Simitis, Rogge said, “renewed his commitment to complete the required works on time.”

Rogge added of the IOC, “We are confident, but we need to witness sustained construction activity to do so.”

He also said at a news conference, “More than ever it is needed to respect the deadlines.” He did not discuss contingency plans.

The comments came amid the first day of a three-day meeting by a 44-member IOC team, dubbed a “coordination commission,” that is inspecting the delay-plagued preparations for the 2004 Olympics. The focus on construction overshadowed renewed concerns about security for the 2004 Games that surfaced after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Rogge said he did not envision massive changes to Greece’s $600-million plan to provide security for the 2004 Games, which relies extensively on the use of soldiers and security cameras. Asked if he believed spectators would be safe, he said, yes. Asked if he thought the terror attacks would diminish attendance at the Games, he said, no.

In an effort to tighten security, Greece might require athletes, officials, even IOC members to apply for visas instead of relying on an Olympic accreditation, Michalis Chrysohoidis, the government’s minister for public order, told reporters.

The Athens Games have been marked by challenge from virtually the day in 1997 the Greeks were awarded the 2004 Olympics--by a morass of bureaucratic red tape, frequent turnover in key positions and delay after delay in construction projects.

In April, 2000, then-IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said that the situation in Athens was the worst organizational debacle he had seen in 20 years atop the IOC.

Shortly thereafter, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, who headed the 1997 bid, was brought back to head the organizing committee, Athens 2004, which goes by the acronym ATHOC.

By the end of last year Samaranch said he was appeased. In May, Rogge, who at the time was head of the Athens coordination commission and in the midst of a hotly contested race for the IOC presidency, said the IOC was “generally pleased” with the situation but cautioned that time was of the essence. Rogge won the presidency in July.

Over the summer, however, with concern shifting away from Athens 2004 and toward the ruling socialist government, very little got built, owing in large measure to an internal political crisis that enveloped the socialist party.

In Greece the government oversees the construction of roads, railways and sports venues needed to stage the Games, and a tour set up Wednesday for the IOC made plain the extent of the delay:

Visible progress is evident only at the Olympic Village and at a weightlifting hall, a wrestling and judo facility and in a rectangular crater that is taking shape as the rowing course.

There has been little or no progress at at least eight other sites, including the equestrian center, sailing venue and gymnastics hall. At some of these venues, the bid process for the contracting work hasn’t been completed.

Olympic officials are now considering the expansive use of temporary facilities instead of permanent ones. Most of the five media villages and nearly all of the seafront venues may have to be built using prefabricated facilities.

In all, the government has undertaken the renovation or construction of about two dozen sports venues, and another two dozen road and rail projects.

In recent days, critics have begun to express concerns that the compressed time frame would contribute to cost overruns and leave taxpayers after the Games with a huge bill, like the $1-billion tab in Montreal after the 1976 Summer Games.

The Greek government’s capital investment in the Games is projected to be about $4 billion; separate is Athens 2004’s $1.7-billion operating budget.

Already the government is confronting budget shortfalls. So it has begun weighing the possibility that certain projects deemed useful but not necessary for the Games may not be completed. Among them: the expansion of an existing two-lane road, a twisting and winding affair, that connects the site of the Olympic Village to Athens’ main east-west highway.

There is also the matter of the ripple effect from the construction delays on Athens 2004. For instance, it can’t undertake a ticketing program until it has venues--and seats.

Angelopoulos-Daskalaki joined Rogge on Wednesday in urging a faster pace from the government.

A former conservative member of the national parliament, her words--aimed at the ruling socialists--carried a particular sting: “It doesn’t take the city, it takes the country to organize the Games, and everyone involved in that.”

Said Rogge: “There should be no comfort in the fact ‘2004’ sounds far off in the distance. There are important dates nearly every month that must be respected.”

He also noted that there are fewer than two years before the “majority of the extremely important test events” for Athens facilities and venues take place. The first test event, in sailing, is only 10 months away.