The global press recently focused on shocking images of sports facilities in Athens just ten years since the 2004 Athens Olympics. Real News reports that contracts for Olympics facilities are now under investigation. The newspaper states that there are indications that members of the Board of Directors managing Olympic Properties may have shown misconduct in the exploitation of the Olympic facilities.

Real News also reported that the roof of Greece’s emblematic Olympic Stadium where the opening and closing ceremonies of the games were held operated with a license for a pergola. At the time, there were notorious delays in the construction of the roof by celebrated Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. The newspaper claims that the roof is not safe and needs maintenance work. Furthermore, the stadium was built using a pergola license. The same applies to the swimming pools that operated without a proper license that is required to host championships, and can’t be exploited, for this reason.

The Olympic Canoe/Kayak Slalom Centre of Athens in 2004…

And how it is today…

An IOBE study on the actual cost of the Athens Olympics

Former Athens 2004 organising committee chief Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki commissioned a study on the actual cost of the 2004 Athens Olympics. “Ten years after the Games…(we are) undertaking a study into the imprint which the 2004 Olympics had on the Greek economy,” the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) said in a statement.”Until now, there has been no detailed, scientific investigation of their overall impact,” the state-supervised foundation said.

IOBE added that the study will be released before the end of the year.

Last year, the finance minister said 8.5 billion euros had been spent on the Olympics and that a total sum of 2 billion euros had been covered by tickets.

Volunteers reminisce

Greek Proto Thema focused on the Olympic Games from volunteers’ perspectives. Gina Floratou, aged 23 at the time, remembers the games with fondness. “There were many times when we only had an hour at our disposal for sleep, usually during a flight from one city to another,” she remembers. “Today, the only thing I regret is allowing myself to sleep and missing out moments of that incredible experience.”

“The organization of the games left nothing to chance and was professional in every sense,” she remembers. “There was no way that you could appear at a gate and say ‘I’m a volunteer, let me through,'” she says. “I have a special interest in target shooting but still had to pay a ticket to see the athletes I admired. And I’m not complaining at all about this, because that’s how it had to be done.”

Another volunteer Martha Sinana, started offering her services for free but eventually was recruited on a three-month contract for 1,500 euros per month to supervise around 30 other volunteers. “We worked hard for long shifts but nobody complained regardless of the pressure, the heat and the responsibility. Furthermore, every night I had to submit a written report about how the day had progressed, any problems and occurences etc that had to be given to the higher administration.” She remembers her participation as one of the highlights of her life, especially when local singers Sakis Rouvas and Elli Kokkinou joined in as volunteers (see photo below). As backstage person, she had the opportunity to meet many local celebrities.