Olympics: A leap of faith

By EUGENE BINGHAM

At 6am on a Spring day in Athens, the hotel porters are out in force with hoses and brooms.

Spray, sweep, spray, sweep - it is a pattern that has been repeated around the Greek capital every morning for years.

Millennia of occupation have taken a mucky toll.

But in the last four years, the dust has been swirling furiously.

It has been seven years since Athens was awarded the right to host the 2004 Games, but political wrangling, contract disputes and Mediterranean inertia conspired to turn the venue construction project into a sprint rather than a canter, compacted into four years.

Finally, this week, two weeks out from the opening ceremony, the dusty job seems done. With the completion of the marathon course, handed over to Olympic authorities by Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias this week, the stadiums, tracks and arenas stand ready for the 10,500 elite athletes from around the world to perform.

Underlining Greece's proud historical connection with the Olympics, construction of some of the venues began thousands of years ago.

The marathon course, for starters, traces the purported trail followed by a herald sent to announce the victory of the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. Runners, including New Zealanders Jonathan Wyatt and Dale Warrander, will set off from the village of Marathon, about 40km north-east of central Athens.

They will finish at the Panathinaiko Stadium, a grand marble arena which will also host the archery.

But the venue with the best claim of a direct link to the past is at Olympia which late last year was included in the Olympic schedule as host of the shot put.

But if those three venues represent what was great about Greek civilisation, the 32 other competition sites became a symbol of all that set the Olympic organisers on edge.

Two months ago, the Herald visited Athens to assess how the city was preparing and its state of readiness. It was at a time of intense sensitivity for the Greeks, stung by international criticism of the construction progress and security.

The main irritants were stories suggesting that the famous roof over the main Olympic stadium was going to have to be abandoned, and a series of tabloid stings in which journalists from Britain and Germany had sneaked into the stadium and then produced stories suggesting security was slack.

The reaction of the authorities was to shut down - a tour of the venues was completely out of the question. Fortunately, a well-placed contact's powers of persuasion prevailed. On a steamy day, the Herald was taken on an undercover tour around the venues, camera hidden from view until all security staff were far away.

The saddest part of the tour was that there was much that the Greeks could and should have been proud of. In spite of the scare stories, much of what needed to be done at the venues was aesthetic. And there were incredible stories of what had been achieved in the truncated construction period.

"See that stadium there," said our host, pointing at the Karaiskaki Stadium, a football ground in southern Athens. "It wasn't there a year ago. A decision was made to knock the old stadium down in July last year and build a new one and now, here it is."

Not far from the new football ground is the Helliniko Olympic Complex built on the site of the old Athens international airport. Where once there were terminals, hangars and runways, there now stand centres for hockey, softball, baseball, basketball, handball and fencing.

In one corner of the complex are the man-made rapids which will host the canoe-kayak slalom events, a jaw-dropping facility when you consider it has been built from scratch where once there was an airport.

For New Zealanders, the Helliniko site will become most familiar as the place where the men's and women's hockey teams will strive for glory. There are two brand new pitches, one with a spectator capacity of 7300, the other seating 2100.

Almost directly across the road from Helliniko is another venue which will, hopefully, be the stuff of golden dreams by New Zealanders - the Agios Kosmas Sailing Centre. It is like a shiny new marina waiting for the arrival of the Olympic fleet. A long pier will double as seating for spectators watching close to shore.

"The facilities are as good as and probably better than Sydney," said Sailing New Zealand chief executive Simon Wickham. As for the conditions that can be expected out on the water, there is a measure of uncertainty. "In Sydney, we expected a shifty breeze, but Athens is going to be harder again."

While the sailing and Helliniko venues are at the southern end of Athens, about 15km from the central city, the other venues are sprawled right around the capital.

To the north-east, more than 40km from downtown, is the Schinias Olympic Rowing Canoeing Centre, where competitors will race in front of 14,000 spectators at a venue built, controversially in the eyes of environmentalists, on an area of fragile wetlands. It too is expected to be battered by Athens' regular August northerly wind, the "meltemia".

Women's single sculler, Sonia Waddell, who will compete at Schinias with several of New Zealand's best gold medal hopefuls, canoeist Ben Fouhy and rowers Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, is prepared for the worst. "They've had only one regatta there, the junior worlds last year, and the winds were so strong, boats sank," she said.

East of the city is the Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre, a virtual town in its own right. Stables and accommodation for the horses make an impressive sight. Kiwi veteran Blyth Tait, riding at his last Games, is pleased with the venue, especially seeing as the stables are air-conditioned to cope with the heat.

Of the venues toured by the Herald, one of the best was undoubtedly the place where the athletes will spend most of their time - the Olympic Village.

About 20km north of downtown, the village is more like a town the size of Matamata. A shuttle bus looping the village travels 4.2km in its journey.

It has been set up to be self-sufficient, with a mini-hospital, fire station, shops, churches, and, of course, a massive 24-hour dining hall capable of feeding 6500 hungry athletes and officials at once.

The New Zealand quarter of the village is a prime location. A 200m stroll from the dining hall, the New Zealanders' apartments look out over an area set aside as the village green, planted out with olive trees and palms.

The apartments are plaster and tile on the outside, marble floors on the inside. Each has five bedrooms and two bathrooms and air-conditioning can be controlled from each room.

Chef de mission Dave Currie and his team have been busy this week making the village look like a home away from home for the arrival of the first New Zealand athletes tonight.

The Greeks, probably without realising the significance of what they were doing, had already begun that process two months ago.

Planted in flower gardens outside the New Zealand quarter were poppies, a poignant reminder to the athletes that the last big wave of young people to land on Greek shores had come to risk their lives in World War II.

It may just be the inspiration they need to spur them on when they take the stage on Athens' set of shiny new - and stunningly ancient - venues.