Athens’ main Olympic stadium will not be finished before July 20 — just three weeks from the opening ceremony on August 13, Olympic organisers said on Wednesday.
”We are moving at the limit. Every delay will be decisive,” Fani Palli-Petralia, Greece’s new minister in charge of the Games, said when she visited the work site.
Dimitris Kallitsantsis, chief executive of Greek constructor Aktor, which heads the consortium in charge of the works, said the late deadline will not upset plans to hold Olympic test events in the stadium in May.
And he assured broadcasters the delay would not hurt their preparations.
”Test events will be held as planned, there is perfect coordination,” he said.
”Nobody will have to climb on the roof for television coverage.
The only thing the roof has to do with television is the lights on it, and they will be installed in time,” he added.
Broadcasters were worried they would not be able to install their equipment in time for the opening ceremony.
For the past 18 months the International Olympic Committee has expressed unease at delays in the steel and glass roof designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, which they claim is not essential.
But for Greece the roof is regarded as a source of national pride.
It also emerged on Wednesday that organisers were planning to put a plastic-coated tarpaulin roof over the Olympic swimming pool.
Government sources said the tarpaulin roof, suspended from four steel pylons, would be open-ended to allow air to circulate during the August heat wave.
The IOC accepted Greece’s original proposal to stage the swimming events in an open-air pool at night as the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Games did.
Greece changed plans in response to pressure from international broadcasters, who said the quality of TV pictures would be improved with a roof over the pool.
But the government was forced to launch a new tender for the roof after it became clear the contractor would be unable to deliver. – Sapa-AFP