IOC Questions Athens’ Progress

Intent on keeping the pressure on, the chairman of an International Olympic Committee inspection team made clear Friday that the IOC is disturbed by far-reaching delays in preparations for the 2004 Summer Games and said that construction on roads, railways and sports venues must start immediately.

Concluding a visit to Athens by the IOC’s coordination commission, Denis Oswald, an influential Swiss IOC member, ticked off slowdowns in everything from the construction of the table tennis venue to highways. His comments follow those issued earlier in the week by IOC President Jacques Rogge that construction is the “top priority.”

Stressing--as Rogge did--that the Games will not be moved elsewhere, Oswald nonetheless said that the IOC will return in November to make another assessment. By then, he said, he expects to see buildings coming out of the ground as well as “plans and proposed measures to catch up with the delays.” IOC experts will then check those plans to see if they’re feasible, he said.

If not?

“I don’t think I would say that we have lost confidence,” he said. “But obviously there are delays. That’s a fact.”

The IOC has been in this position before--about a year and a half ago, when then-IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said that the situation in Athens was the worst organizational debacle he had seen in two decades atop the IOC.

Athens won the right to the 2004 Games in September 1997. Since then, planning and preparation have been stalled by a welter of bureaucratic red tape, by sustained turnover in key positions and by ferocious political infighting involving the government and the local organizing committee, Athens 2004, which goes by the acronym ATHOC.

In April 2000, when Samaranch issued his warning, he went on to use a traffic-light analogy. In general, he said, green meant things were zooming along, yellow meant “many problems” and red the Games were “in danger.” In Athens, Samaranch said then, the situation fully deserved a yellow--verging on red.

Asked Friday to label the situation green, yellow or red, Oswald turned not to a traffic light but to color codes in soccer. In soccer, a referee holds up a yellow card to give an athlete a warning. A red card means an athlete is tossed out of the game.

“It is no question here that we might withdraw the Games from Athens,” Oswald said. “The Games will take place in Athens and we are not here ... as policemen or as referees giving red cards.”

Others, speaking on condition of anonymity, were more forthcoming.

Referring to the traffic-light analogy, one said the situation is now “ripe yellow,” if not “reddish-yellow.” The Games open Aug. 13, 2004. The scope of the delay is staggering.

The Greek government, which oversees the construction of Olympic-related venues and infrastructure, has promised the construction or renovation of two dozen sports venues and another two dozen rail or road projects. Visible progress was evident this week to the IOC at only four sites: the Olympic Village, a wrestling and judo hall, the weightlifting center and the rowing course.

There has been little or no progress at eight other sites, including the equestrian center, sailing venue and gymnastics hall. At some of those venues, design studies are still in the works.

Earlier in the week, it was disclosed that, because of government budget shortfalls, certain projects deemed useful but not essential might not be completed. Among them: the expansion of a winding two-lane road that connects the site of the Olympic Village to Athens’ main east-west highway.

The IOC also said that more hotel rooms “must be secured” for athletes and fans.

Until the venues are built, the Athens 2004 ticketing program remains sketchy. And until the construction is done, the focus can’t turn fully to other areas that in prior Games have sometimes proven a concern, such as technology issues. The 2004 Olympics will be the first Summer Games for the IOC’s new technology supplier, the French-English firm Sema, which is replacing IBM.

“The next two to three months are critical,” said Alex Gilady, the IOC member from Israel.

After that, the IOC will be “occupied” with the Winter Games in February at Salt Lake City, meaning “the next time we will look at this will be March. And then, we really are getting too close.”

Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, a former conservative member of the Greek parliament who heads the organizing committee, said Friday that ATHOC needs the socialist government’s support, “not with words but with actions,” adding, “It is clear: we need infrastructure, and cannot afford delays.”