The 2004 Olympic legacy that London must avoid

A diving pool with four inches of stagnant water, brand new stadia mothballed and derelict, an Olympic complex all but abandoned and strewn with litter and graffiti — this is the legacy from the Athens Olympics in 2004.

An Evening Standard investigation has uncovered Olympic venues which remain unused and barred to the public just five years on — in a stark warning for organisers of the London Games. On the day Mayor Boris Johnson and Olympics minister Tessa Jowell announce a new company to "secure a lasting legacy" in the wake of London 2012, the size of the task that confronts them is obvious — if the Athens experience is anything to go by.

Venue after venue of the 2004 Games, visited by the Standard, is in disrepair. Graffiti covers stadia walls; weeds grow through walkways once used by spectators and athletes; litter spills out across empty plazas while metal fences and padlocked gates bar entry.

At the main Olympic site, ornamental fountains have long been switched off, the pools filled with torn flyers for, among other things, "live strip shows". The area is all but empty. Water has been drained from the diving pool, which is now home to a flip-flop, ball, plastic bags and polystyrene cups.

The velodrome is ghostly quiet. Bird droppings cover the seating, the backs of which have also been spray-painted with graffiti.

At the Olympic village — converted to a workers' housing settlement in the north of Athens — the plaque to commemorate the Games is covered by spray paint while the central promenade is overgrown with weeds and blighted by dog mess, whisky bottles, cracked paving stones and — perhaps not surprisingly — spray paint cans.

Meanwhile a vast Olympic park at Helleniko that should have been created on the site of Athens' old airport — providing residents with welcome relief from the city's traffic-clogged streets and pollution — remains an abject wasteland. A rusting Boeing 747, emblazoned with the graffiti slogan "Chill High", stands on the edge of what should be a splendid public park while three Olympic stadia, once venues for hockey, baseball and softball go to waste. The fencing venue is nothing more than a derelict concrete hangar.

When the Standard reporter and photographer arrived at the Helleniko site, a southern suburb on the coast about four miles from the city centre, our way was barred by security guards.

After 24 hours of negotiation, the Standard, escorted by three minders, was finally given access to a site normally shut to the public. Photographs were allowed, provided they did not include close-ups.

Neither the hockey nor softball stadium has been used since 2004 while the baseball arena has been converted into an ill-fitting football ground for a Greek second division side.

Millions of pounds a year are wasted maintaining sites the public cannot visit. "We test the facilities every day," said one of the minders working for a subcontractor of the parent company Hellenic Olympic Properties. "The softball is in perfect working order. It is not abandoned. It's just that nobody ever plays softball."

Asked why the 5,000-seat hockey arena had not seen a match since the Olympics, another minder laughed: "Hockey in Greece. Ha ha ha."

A spokeswoman for Hellenic Olympic Properties, a state-owned company created by the government to manage and lease venues at Helleniko and down the road at Faliro — which should have regenerated the areas — admitted: "The children are only interested in basketball and football. All the other Olympic sports — nobody has any interest."

What went wrong in Athens at an Olympics that cost $15 billion will make disquieting reading for those charged with ensuring the legacy is not wasted in London. The Greeks lagged so far behind in staging the Games — there were fears right up until the opening ceremony that venues would not be ready. Nobody considered what would be done with stadia after the athletes had left town.

There have been improvements — an updated metro, a tram along the waterfront, improved roads and new airport — but those achievements, which could have been built with or without an Olympics, are overshadowed by the subsequent failures.

The matter was not helped by a change of government four months before the Olympics, when the conservative New Democracy party took power from the socialist PASOK.

Since December, when 15-year-old Alexander Grigoropoulos was shot dead by police, the Greek capital has been in the grip of a mass riots, strikes and anti-government demonstrations.
"The Olympics has failed to inspire a generation of kids," says Barney Spender, editor of sportingreece.com. "Going out and throwing rocks at policemen has become the national sport. Athens was really thrown up.

"They got the Games in 1997 but then only started building three years before. They wasted three years doing nothing but arguing and nothing got done. Nobody had a plan for the legacy. There was no unified structure. It's a big mess really."

Ioannis Georganas, 35, an archaeologist, who is typical of a disaffected population, said: "During the Olympics, Athens was a lively, happy city. Everybody was smiling all the time. There was something different in the atmosphere but unfortunately after it all finished people went back to their routines and that was it. We never built on that momentum to do more. We missed the opportunity."

In 2004 the hosts were 16th in the medals table with six golds. In Beijing last year, Greece won two bronze and two silvers, finishing 59th. Child obesity levels are among Europe's highest.

London 2012 organisers are confident the lessons of Athens have been absorbed. The setting up of a legacy company is a step on the road to securing the site's future success. London at least has a plan. That's more than can be said for Athens.