Greek and French officials denied on Tuesday that Athens 2004 Olympics organisers Athoc wanted to scrap French signs in the Games’ venues to cut the ballooning costs of staging the Games.
”(Athoc) President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki just assured me … that signs in sports venues and press centres will be in all three languages,” French ambassador Bruno Delaye said after a meeting with chief Athens 2004 organiser Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, according to an Athoc press release.
”Athoc has taken all the necessary measures to ensure that French is promoted during the Games,” Angelopoulos-Daskalaki said.
Delaye said he asked for the meeting following press reports that organisers planned to have all signs at venues in just Greek and English.
English and French are the official languages of the International Olympic Committee.
Earlier in the month, an Athoc spokesperson had said that organisers had not planned ”at that stage” to use French for signs in the venues’ spectator zones, in a bid to reduce costs, sources close to the affair said.
But ambassador Delaye said Angelopoulos-Daskalaki had told him ”there was never such an issue”. — Sapa-AFP