IOC Is Confident Athens Facilities Will Be Ready

The last-gasp work to prepare Athens for the Summer Games received a vote of confidence Wednesday from the International Olympic Committee’s chief inspector.

“In the past, we had doubts ... and I am very happy to report all these doubts have disappeared,” Denis Oswald said after the IOC’s final major visit before the Aug. 13-29 Games.

The upbeat tone was a welcome change compared with the atmosphere of previous inspections, when Oswald and others pressed for faster work and more substantial results.

The head of local organizing, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, summed up the mood: “Thank heaven that this progress is finally being made.”

Four years ago, the IOC was so worried about delays and bureaucratic inertia that it said the Olympics could be in jeopardy.

IOC President Jacques Rogge echoed the sentiment in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, saying: “I’m thoroughly convinced that our Greek friends will be ready.”

Venues are supposed to be ready by the end of June. On Monday, one of two 8,000-ton steel arches began moving along specially built tracks at the main Olympic stadium.

The glass-and-steel roof will protect the 75,000-seat stadium from Athens’ summer sun, which often pushes the temperature past 100 degrees. Organizers see the roof as a source of pride for Greeks saddled with Olympic bills of more than $6.7 billion.

Oswald said the round-the-clock efforts to install the roof show that tight deadlines can be met.