Olympic stadiums' uncertain future

By Richard Galpin
BBC News, Athens

It took three days before Greek authorities granted us permission to visit the Olympic site.

Empty seats in a Greek Olympic stadium
The stadiums are heavily guarded but empty
But when we reached the security post at the back entrance we were not allowed any further and we had to wait for our police escort to arrive.

As we followed the flashing blue lights, the initial dominant image was row upon row of high-security fencing.

But this was not the Green Zone in Baghdad we were entering. It was a large complex of Olympic venues built for last year's Athens games on the coast overlooking the warm waters of the Saronic Gulf.

Last August, these venues were the centre of world attention as some of the greatest athletes battled for medals in front of the crowds and television cameras.

One year on they stand idle, under lock and key - silent concrete monuments rising incongruously from the runway of what used to be the city's old airport.

Empty and silent

They also stand as testaments to the building frenzy in the months leading up to the opening ceremony.

This ultimately succeeded in making the games look good for the global television audience, but less so for those who were actually here - certainly for the spectators who came to this vast, desolate, incomplete complex.

According to official documents the six venues built on this site known as Hellinikon cost almost $330m.

But since the Games they have only been used for the occasional concert, exhibition or sports event.

The public have for the most part been shut out of these and almost all the other Olympic venues for the past 12 months.

It is now becoming painfully obvious that the Greek government made more than just the one fundamental error of leaving the preparations for the Olympics too late.

It also failed to put together any coherent plan for the future use of almost 30 purpose-built venues after the Olympic band-wagon rolled out of town.

A senior government official once admitted to me that the only plan he had seen prior to the Games simply had "conference centre" marked next to a list of almost every facility.

To make matters worse, the authorities failed to see the wisdom of constructing temporary venues for some sports, as previous Olympic host cities have done.

Everything in Athens is set in concrete, even the facilities for sports which are of minimal interest to the average Greek, such as baseball, softball and hockey.

These are three of the immaculate stadiums now standing idle at the Hellinikon complex.


The Olympics gave Greece a new identity and better recognition
Spyros Cladas, Gen. Secretary Olympic Utilisation

They are top quality buildings each and every one.

At the baseball stadium the sprinklers pump out gallons of water every day to keep the grass in perfect condition.

But the bright blue plastic seats are all empty and nobody knows when or if they will ever be filled again.

"I feel mad," says Liana Kanelli, a Communist member of parliament. "My government asks us to pay 100 million euros [$121m] per year from our taxes [to maintain the Olympic venues] and I don't use them, I don't see them, I don't go there as a viewer or as an athlete.

"Nobody uses them and nobody tells you what's going to happen next year. Wouldn't you get mad?"

It was only in June that parliament passed a bill, called the sustainable development and social utilisation of the Olympic facilities bill, to enshrine in law how they can be used.

For some facilities there are now clear plans.

Apart from holding top athletics competitions, the main Olympic stadium will be used by two football clubs and the adjacent media centre will be turned into museums of sport.

Other venues will be converted into arts academies, golf courses, parks and conference centres.

Olympic finances

The private sector has already been invited to bid for long-term leases for three venues and officials say tenders will be put out for seven more this year.

But the plans remain vague for many facilities including those at the Hellinikon complex.

For five of the six venues, the only uses beyond sport are "cultural events, public dining areas, commercial stores and commercial exhibitions."

The city certainly needed more arenas, but not dozens more.

The uncertain fate of the venues is fuelling public unease about the financial burden of hosting the Olympics.

An Olympic Stadium in Athens
Future generations could be paying for Olympic stadiums
The total bill including the upgrading of public transport systems is now put at $15bn, three times the original estimate.

Greece is facing difficulties with its budget deficit which shot up to double the permitted level for countries using the euro as their currency.

It must bring the deficit under control next year.

"We spent 13bn euros to hold the Games," says Communist MP Liana Kanelli.

"We are left with a very good image, but it's very expensive and the price is going to be paid by the next generation or the one after, our grandsons and granddaughters. This is a Greek tragedy."

But government officials insist it was all worthwhile.

"It would have been worth it even if the cost had been double what we paid," says Spyros Cladas, who goes by the Orwellian title of General Secretary of Olympic Utilisation.

"The benefits were material with new infrastructure, but also [the Olympics] gave Greece a new identity and better recognition."

That is certainly true in the sense that many around the world doubted whether Greece could organise a successful Olympics.

But the population is still waiting for the tangible return on its huge collective investment beyond the improved public transport system in Athens.