Only two of the 29 Olympic venues in Athens have been completed
Athens a year out? It has glossy brochures ... with artist's renderings.
Two of the 29 venues are done, neither of them a sports facility: the International Broadcast Center and the drug-testing lab.
The main Olympic complex in northern Athens is a massive dirt plain with backhoes and cement mixers weaving around piles of gravel and steel beams. The tennis stadium is a metal shell, as is the upper deck of the outdoor swimming pool. The water polo pool is barely more than a concrete hole. The velodrome has no seats.
The 1970s-era track stadium that is undergoing major renovation has no seats yet, either. The field is a patch of brown grass with rusting soccer goals at either end. Five-foot high weeds are growing in the long-jump pits. A cement mixer is parked on the faded track.
The scoreboard clock on one end says it's noon. The clock at the opposite end says it's 10:14. Neither is right. It's 4:25 in the afternoon.
Besides new seats, the stadium's big makeover involves an exquisite steel and glass roof designed by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. The parts started arriving only in the past few weeks from abroad, and the IOC has expressed apprehension about going forward with a purely aesthetic project when, let's face it, the stadium it will cover is in shambles. There is now talk of installing the roof after the Games.
The baseball, field hockey and beach volleyball venues at the Helliniko complex are in construction infancy, and their test events have been pushed back to next spring. In its April inspection, the IOC said only 12 percent of the complex was completed.
The stadium slated to host the soccer finals? Didn't break ground until May.
The main media village? Journalists have been told they will be informed of "alternative housing" if it isn't finished in time.
The suburban rail line that will link downtown with the new airport? Only eight of 20 miles of track laid.
The tram line so vital for transporting fans to the southern venues? Less than two of 17 miles done.
There also are the hundreds of smaller projects aimed at sprucing up the city ahead of the world's visit. Chunks of jack-hammered sidewalks piled on the side of streets. Subway stations closed for renovation. Yellow cranes dotting the skyline. Highway overpasses abruptly ending in mid-air in a tangle of rebar, like a Cyclops bit it off.
Even the Parthenon, perched above the grimy metropolis as a constant reminder of its glorious past, is covered in scaffolding.
The Greece Olympic Clusterfuk Saga
Athens a year out? It has glossy brochures ... with artist's renderings.
Two of the 29 venues are done, neither of them a sports facility: the International Broadcast Center and the drug-testing lab.
The main Olympic complex in northern Athens is a massive dirt plain with backhoes and cement mixers weaving around piles of gravel and steel beams. The tennis stadium is a metal shell, as is the upper deck of the outdoor swimming pool. The water polo pool is barely more than a concrete hole. The velodrome has no seats.
The 1970s-era track stadium that is undergoing major renovation has no seats yet, either. The field is a patch of brown grass with rusting soccer goals at either end. Five-foot high weeds are growing in the long-jump pits. A cement mixer is parked on the faded track.
The scoreboard clock on one end says it's noon. The clock at the opposite end says it's 10:14. Neither is right. It's 4:25 in the afternoon.
Besides new seats, the stadium's big makeover involves an exquisite steel and glass roof designed by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. The parts started arriving only in the past few weeks from abroad, and the IOC has expressed apprehension about going forward with a purely aesthetic project when, let's face it, the stadium it will cover is in shambles. There is now talk of installing the roof after the Games.
The baseball, field hockey and beach volleyball venues at the Helliniko complex are in construction infancy, and their test events have been pushed back to next spring. In its April inspection, the IOC said only 12 percent of the complex was completed.
The stadium slated to host the soccer finals? Didn't break ground until May.
The main media village? Journalists have been told they will be informed of "alternative housing" if it isn't finished in time.
The suburban rail line that will link downtown with the new airport? Only eight of 20 miles of track laid.
The tram line so vital for transporting fans to the southern venues? Less than two of 17 miles done.
There also are the hundreds of smaller projects aimed at sprucing up the city ahead of the world's visit. Chunks of jack-hammered sidewalks piled on the side of streets. Subway stations closed for renovation. Yellow cranes dotting the skyline. Highway overpasses abruptly ending in mid-air in a tangle of rebar, like a Cyclops bit it off.
Even the Parthenon, perched above the grimy metropolis as a constant reminder of its glorious past, is covered in scaffolding.
The Greece Olympic Clusterfuk Saga
