With a week to go before the official opening of the Olympics, the games’ organisers and the Greek government were yesterday praying for an improvement in ticket sales, as figures showed that more than half of the 5,3-million total have yet to be sold.
After months of international concern over whether the Greeks would be ready, it appears the main venues have been completed on time, and the real concern is whether there will be any spectators in them.
The poor turnout for the biggest games in the history of the Olympics — 202 countries will participate — has raised the spectre of some 10 500 athletes competing before almost empty venues.
Despite being pilloried for the chaotic manner of its Olympic preparations, a Guardian review has shown that Greece seems to have met construction deadlines for the stadiums.
Foreign delegations, like Greek officials, have put on a brave face over the low ticket sales, saying there is still time for tourists to arrive for the 16-day event, and there have been signs of a last-minute rush for seats.
But the absence of tourists is conspicuous in the eerily empty streets, squares and cafes of the capital. On Thursday, Athens’ newly renovated central piazza, Sydagma, was inaugurated before a handful of tourists, mostly Asian, as the municipal orchestra tried to keep up spirits with a stirring beat.
Safety concerns, despite draconian security measures that have also been praised, and exorbitant prices, not least hotel room rates, have been blamed for keeping visitors away.
In an inauspicious sign, the Athens Organising Committee (Athoc) this week lowered its target ticket sales from 4m to 3.4m as repentant hoteliers desperately tried to lure visitors to the biggest event modern Greece will probably ever stage.
Olympic sites
After months of anxiety about whether all the building work would be completed, it seems that all 35 sports venues were finally completed this week, somewhat past the 11th hour.
Official approval came in the form of a statement by Jacques Rogge, the head of the International Olympic Committee, who has been at his wits’ end watching the problem-prone preparations.
The sites include ancient Olympia, the games’ birthplace, where the shotput returns after almost 3,000 years.
The 75,000-seat main Olympic complex was also handed over by the builders. Even work on the 26.6 mile marathon route, which suffered some of the worst setbacks following the financial collapse of its original construction firm, has been finished, just about.
The decoration of Athens’ central boulevards is not over yet, with tree-planting expected to continue up until the August 13 start of the games.
Likewise, last-minute works will continue on the newly-constructed Rio-Antirrio suspension bridge across which the Olympic flames will pass on Sunday.
To the Greeks’ delight, the verdict of athletes arriving in the capital has been very positive. Many have described the venues and Olympic village as the ”best ever”.
Security
Security measures for the Athens Olympics are the biggest that have ever been undertaken in the history of the modern games.
Greece has been forced to spend $1,5-billion on mounting the operation, five times more than Sydney in 2000.
The surveillance network includes 1 300 cameras, spy vans, underwater sensors, chemical detectors and an airship – all linked by a secure communications grid to a command centre.
The airship, which is equipped with powerful cameras, will fly over the capital at least 15 hours a day during the games from August 13 to 29. In addition, around 70 000 specially-trained police and soldiers have been drafted to guard Olympic sites. This week, the Greek government announced that another 35 000 military personnel would be assigned for ”secondary duties”, that is, patrolling the streets.
Three Patriot anti-aircraft missile sites have been set up around the capital on orders to shoot down any plane that strays into Athenian airspace.
In another unprecedented step, Nato troops, including a team of specialists in weapons of mass destruction, have been deployed in Greece.
Yesterday, the first Awac early warning surveillance planes were expected to fly in, to monitor suspicious chatter. Athens’ skies will also be patrolled by fighter jets and nine police helicopters.
Greece’s land borders with its Balkan neighbours and Turkey have been reinforced, as has its long coastline.
Last Monday authorities sealed off the port of Pireaus. The harbour, which was swept by a minesweeper, was closed after being decked out with underwater sonar equipment and sensors to prevent any attack from the sea.
Although generally accepted, the measures have also unnerved Greeks who complain that ”Big Brother” has arrived on their doorstep. Underlining the growing disquiet, a Greek civil rights group resorted to the courts this week to try to get the airship grounded – predictably, the tribunal deferred the decision.
Tourism
In spite of official hopes, the return of the Olympics to the place of their birth has not had the desired effect. Figures show tourist arrivals down by 12% over last year, the lowest since Greece became a popular tourist destination.
Most of those who have stayed away are Britons, put off by exorbitant hotel rates and horror stories of last minute preparations.
This week hotel workers went on strike, adding to the fears that a tourist boom is unlikely to take place.
”I think it’s very probable that we’ll go on strike during the games,” Christos Katsotis, who heads the employees’ union, told the Guardian. ”We want better pay, and what we have been offered is insulting.”
Despite all the security measures, safety concerns have also played a decisive role in keeping tourists away, as has a poor advertising campaign.
In a last-ditch effort to win customers back, hoteliers have begun slashing prices. The government has also taken the unusual step of printing leaflets with price lists of commonly bought goods.
The lists, which include how much visitors should expect to pay for everything from a coffee to a packet of condoms, will be distributed at airports and other entry points throughout the games.
Transportation
Many had feared that Athens would be the worst possible place to stage an Olympics, if only because of its notorious traffic congestion. It’s early days yet, but contrary to expectation there have not been signs of the gridlock that Athenians have come to take for granted.
Forty-four years after the last trams trundled beneath the Acropolis, they are back on track. Residents have welcomed their comeback, despite teething problems that have included long delays and more than 40 road accidents with unruly Athenian motorists.
A new suburban rail line and an ever-expanding underground system – regarded as one of the best in Europe – have also helped reduce congestion.
Traffic restrictions, including the introduction of special Olympic lanes for IOC personnel and athletes, also appear to have been successful. Drivers must now keep to one lane in the middle of the road if they don’t want to be fined €156 (about £105).
Since being enforced on Monday, police have reported Athenians (among Europe’s most anarchic drivers) adapting to them with unexpected rigour. ”Motorists have understood how to behave,” said a police spokesperson, Lefteris Economou, clearly astonished.
Jobs that still need doing
Thousands of shrubs and trees must be planted along main streets
20,000 Olympic banners are to be hung, mostly from streetlamps, in city centre; tarpaulins will also be wrapped around Athens’s architectural carbuncles
Stray dogs will be removed from the streets as part of a clean-up, although city authorities insist they are being put in special shelters on the outskirts of the capital
Hundreds of facades of buildings along the main boulevards have yet to be painted
By next Tuesday, the Greek church hopes to have erected a gypsum kiosk outside Athens’ main cathedral, stockpiling books explaining the Orthodox faith. – Guardian Unlimited