Athens steps up Olympic work

The first modern Olympics was in Athens in 1896

Greek authorities have told workers to toil around the clock as pressure mounts on the country to prove that Athens will be ready for the 2004 Olympic Games.

The International Olympic Committee begins a three-day inspection of Athens' preparations next Wednesday, amid fears that building work on new venues for the Games is falling behind schedule.

Test events need to be held at the venues ahead of the August 2004 Games - and engineers face further complications as they build in a location prone to earthquakes.

"We are working as fast as possible," said Vassilis Keramidas, the civil engineer at the planned wrestling and judo hall that straddles the fault line of a deadly 1999 earthquake.

Additional seismic reinforcement is slowing down construction and some project officials have raised doubts about whether it will be ready for a wrestling test event scheduled for July 2003.

Ancient problems

The Greek government - in charge of all major Olympic works - believes the planning effort will finally get more praise than blame from the IOC reviewers.

But Denis Oswald, the chief IOC overseer of Athens' preparations warned that the city was already racing against time.

Yet Athens officials must fear the work is jinxed.

As if fears of strikes and earthquakes were not enough, ancient Greek history is now conspiring against builders.

Work at the planned Olympic equestrian centre in Marcopoulo has been hampered after crews uncovered what is believed to be a 2,500-year-old shrine to the love goddess Aphrodite that also served as a brothel.

At the planned table tennis and rhythmic gymnastics centre in the suburb of Galatsi, work has been slowed by unforeseen rock beds.

Tricky course

But the biggest problems are at the former international airport on the sea coast south of Athens.

Athens planners shifted the canoe and kayak course to the former airfield last year after environmentalists and others protested against the original area north of Athens.

Work has yet to begin on the highly technical water courses, which normally go through months of fine-tuning before a major event.

The government, meanwhile, is tiptoeing around any subject that could anger labour unions and further disrupt construction.

Proposals to reform Greece's nearly bankrupt pension system have effectively been put on hold until after the Olympics.

The IOC will be briefed on other potential trouble spots, including Athens' struggle to find 60,000 Olympic volunteers and plans to place spectators in private homes because of a severe hotel room shortage.