Track great Michael Johnson says Athens is crowded, old and ill-equippped to stage the Olympics.
Johnson, a five-time Olympic gold medalist and world-record-holder in the 200m and 400m, said Athens will never measure up to the success of the 2000 Sydney Games.
”I believe that they will be ready to stage the Games, but I don’t feel they will be ready or able to stage a great Olympic Games,” Johnson wrote in a column in The Daily Telegraph on Wedneday, a year ahead of the opening ceremony in Athens.
Johnson, who retired after Sydney, said it was ”unfortunate” that Athens is staing the next Olympics.
”Sydney is a new and very cosmopolitan city, the people are incredibly hospitable and there is always a festive atmosphere,” Johnson said.
”Athens, by contrast, though a great city with much history in a beautiful country, is crowded and old and not properly equipped for the number of visitors it will attract for next year’s Games.
”Many of the visitors will be coaches, athletes, officials and Olympic fans who were in Sydney in 2000 and will unfortunately make comparisons. There is no way Athens can win that contest.” — Sapa-AP