Ueberroth Expects ‘Great’ Athens Games

Peter Ueberroth, who headed up the successful 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, said Wednesday he believes the Summer Olympics in Athens will be “great Games.”

The Athens Games begin Aug. 13. They have for years been dogged by construction delays; several venues, including Olympic Stadium, are not finished. In addition, concerns over security have shadowed preparations for the Games; the Athens Games will be the first Summer Olympics since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

Ueberroth said he thinks “there will not be any major security incidents,” adding that a massive security buildup for the Athens Games, at a cost of about $1 billion, sharply reduces the “element of surprise” on which terrorism depends. He said he believes the venues will be ready. He said too that he intends to attend the Games.

And, in the first comments he has made in a public forum on the race for the 2012 Summer Games, Ueberroth described New York’s bid as “magic” and said, “It clearly has the possibilities of winning.”

Ueberroth’s comments came in a lunch sponsored by the New York 2012 bid. However, he stressed that he has no connection to the bid and was speaking as part of a recurring speakers program developed by a senior consultant to the bid, former U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Moran. Ueberroth was not paid for the speech.

Ueberroth’s comments Wednesday echoed remarks he made last week, in which he described New York’s 2012 bid as “incredibly well done and very thoughtful and not arrogant.”

The International Olympic Committee will pick the 2012 site in July 2005 at an all-delegates session in Singapore. New York is competing against Paris; London; Madrid; Moscow; Rio de Janeiro; Havana; Istanbul, Turkey; and Leipzig, Germany.

Ueberroth said New York’s international connections could appeal to IOC delegates. So too might the ready availability of high-quality medical care, a point often overlooked by those unfamiliar with the nuance of the IOC bid process.

But perhaps the key to the New York bid, he said Wednesday, is that it would “benefit the people who live here all the time” -- what Olympic planners refer to as the “legacy” of a Games. In 1992, for example, Barcelona, Spain, used the Games as a catalyst for widespread urban reform. Athens is similarly trying to use the Games as a spur for highways, railways and even a new airport.

The New York bid envisions expansion of the convention center on Manhattan’s West Side and construction of a nearby stadium. It also calls for the building of an Olympic Village across the East River from the United Nations, which after the Games would be turned into residential housing, and waterfront and other redevelopment projects in the city’s five boroughs.

The IOC will announce at a May 18 meeting of its policy-making executive board whether the list of nine applicants will be trimmed and, if so, by how many.

Ueberroth dismissed concerns over construction projects in Athens. For instance, while Greek officials recently canceled construction of a roof over the Olympic swimming pool, saying time was too short, the 1984 swimming events were held outside, and, Ueberroth said, “Pools aren’t supposed to have covers.”

Traffic is another concern in Athens -- just as it was in 1984. But many Southern California residents remember the easy drives on the freeways during the two weeks of the 1984 Games, and Ueberroth said, “Anybody can fix traffic for a [brief] period.”

As Ueberroth recounted Wednesday, the Los Angeles Games, which skeptics beforehand had predicted would be a bust, turned a massive profit, now estimated at $232.5 million. The profit went to the USOC and the Los Angeles-based Amateur Athletic Foundation, which has invested more than $140 million in youth sports in Southern California.

“They came out well,” Ueberroth said, meaning the Games, “and I think Los Angeles has been well-served.”