Test Run

The Olympic stadium in Athens will be put through its paces today, as various track and field athletes will compete in front of a "guinea pig" audience of 8000.

Those of you with a mathematical bent, may wonder why a stadium with a capacity of 75000 is only going to accommodate 8000 for a test run.

The answer lies in the simple fact that out of the 75000 seats, only 8000 have been installed. That leaves 67000 to be installed by the start of the Olympic Games, in a little over 60 days time.

That means that a over 1000 seats a day need to be put into position, that should be manageable I think.

To some extent you would have thought that the basic infrastructure, such as the seating, would have been in place by now; given the fact that Greece has spent lavishly on this project. However, it seems that the more "sexy parts" of the construction have been diverting peoples' energies.

I understand that the spending, and lavish constructions, planned for the Olympics 2004 have not met with the approval of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC President, Jacques Rogge, has suggested that Greece has misdirected its efforts; and spent far too much on the forthcoming Olympic Games.

It is reported that he and the IOC had only ever wanted simple structures, that would be easy to put into place; and not cost the earth. Instead Greece went "hell for leather" and came up with a plethora of lavish designs and concepts, amongst others, the "whale's rib cage" roof for the Olympic Stadium. This retails at a very "reasonable" 190M Euros.

I think that in future the IOC will pick countries, to host the Games, that already have a decent infrastructure in place.