Olympic Sports Complex Athens
The Olympic Sports Complex Athens ( Greek Ολυμπιακό Αθλητικό Κέντρο Αθηνών »Σπύρος Λούης« Olymbiako Athlitiko Kendro Athinon "Spyros Louis" ) also OAKA for short, is a sports facility in the Athens suburb of Marousi . This was put into operation in 1982 and has been expanded since the 1990s. The complex consists of five different competition venues and various farm buildings. It is shaped by the buildings built by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava in 1999–2004 for the 2004 Summer Olympics .
The sports facility officially bears the name of Spyridon "Spyros" Louis , the winner of the first modern Olympic marathon (1896), as he was born in the community where the stadium is located.
location
The complex is located in Marousi, ten kilometers northeast of Athens city center. This is served by line 1 of the Athens metro (Irini station). The shopping center The Mall is in the immediate vicinity, as is the luxury label shopping center Golden Mall (formerly the Olympic press center) and the private hospital IASO.
buildings
Central Olympic Stadium
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Until its completion, the Panathinaiko Stadium (not to be confused with that of the football club of the same name) was used for major events. A feasibility study for a new stadium was carried out in 1978 by Weidleplan (today: wpm / dornier), who later also oversaw the implementation of the construction. The architects were H. Stalhout, Fr. Herre and Dimitris Andrikopoulos. The inclined light poles made of exposed concrete were a striking sign of the building, which was designed in the style of brutalism . Construction began on January 7, 1980 and lasted until September 1982. Originally it was planned to use this stadium unchanged for the Olympic Games, which met resistance from the IOC.
Before the Olympic Games, the stadium was completely rebuilt and modernized; the costs for this amounted to 156 million euros. The light poles were demolished and the stadium was given a 17,000 tonne roof made of polycarbonate panes designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava . This 25,000 m² polycarbonate roof, the largest in the world, was completed shortly before the official reopening on July 30, 2004 and covers a total of 95% of the seats. The arches of the roof structure are each 304 meters long and have a maximum height of 72 meters at their center. While the audience capacity was 74,767 before the modernization work, today it is given as 71,030 seats.
During the Olympic Games, in addition to the opening and closing ceremonies, the athletics competitions and the final of the men's soccer tournament took place here. Before that, the Olympic Stadium was a regular venue for major national and international sporting events. The most outstanding events were:
- European Athletics Championships 1982
- Football final in the 1982/83 European Cup between Hamburger SV and Juventus Turin (1: 0)
- World Junior Athletics Championships 1986
- Soccer final in the 1986/87 European Cup Winners' Cup between Ajax Amsterdam and 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig (1-0)
- 1993/94 UEFA Champions League football final between AC Milan and FC Barcelona (4-0)
- World Athletics Championships 1997
- 2006/07 UEFA Champions League football final between Liverpool FC and AC Milan (1: 2)
In addition, the Greek national football team played a large part of their games at OAKA . The stadium is currently used by the football club AEK Athens . Record attendance: 74,473 (Panathinaikos Athens - ΑΕΚ Athens, semifinals in the Greek club cup 1986).
Water sports center
The water sports center (Olympic Aquatic Center) built in 1991 consists of three pools. Two of the pools are outdoors, one is covered. The swimming and water polo competitions were held in the larger outdoor pool (audience capacity 11,500) . Around the smaller outdoor pool, the venue for synchronized swimming and the water polo preliminary round, there was space for 5300 spectators. In the hall (6200 spectators), the competitions were Diving and the preliminary round played water polo. The total cost was 21 million euros.
Before the Olympic Games, the larger outdoor pool caused negative headlines. The original plan was to build a roof to protect athletes and spectators from the sun's rays. However, this roof was not built. Time reasons were officially given, but there was speculation about a deletion for cost reasons. The center was completed at the end of 2003 and officially opened on July 30, 2004.
Olympia Hall
The Olympiahalle (officially called Olympic Indoor Hall), which was built in 1995, was the largest sports hall during the Olympic Games and is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. The competitions in apparatus gymnastics and trampoline gymnastics as well as the final matches in basketball took place here. The hall can accommodate a different number of spectators depending on the sport (17,500 for gymnastics and trampoline jumping, 19,250 for basketball games). However, during the Olympic Games, the audience was limited to 12,000. The modernization work, which took five million euros to complete, was completed on July 30, 2004, and the official reopening took place on August 10.
Despite its young age, the Athens Olympic Hall can already boast a number of major major events that were held in it before the Olympic Games. These included the 1995 U21 Basketball World Cup, the 1995 European Basketball Championship and the 1998 World Basketball Championship .
On May 20, 2006, the Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Olympiahalle. In 2007 the Olympiahalle hosted the Final Four tournament of the ULEB Euroleague .
The Olympic Hall is currently used by the Panathinaikos Athens basketball team , who play their home games there.
Velodrome
The track cycling competitions were held in the Velodrome (Olympic Velodrome) . The audience capacity is 5,250, but was limited to 3,000 during the Olympic Games. The stadium has an elaborate roof structure designed by Santiago Calatrava . The cycle track made of Afzelia wood is 250 meters long and 7.5 meters wide. Construction work was completed on May 30, 2004, and the opening took place on July 30.
Tennis center
The tennis center (Olympic Tennis Center) consists of 16 tennis courts with hard surfaces. The main square, known as the Main Court, has a seating capacity of 8,600 (limited to 6,000 during the Olympic Games). The two semifinal places offer space for 4300 spectators each (limited to 3200 during the Olympic Games). There are also 13 side seats for 200 spectators each. The center was completed in February 2004 and officially opened on August 2, 2004.
Detailed photos and images of other buildings in the complex
Farm buildings from the 1980s on the hall and the Aquatic Center
Part of the tennis center
Up close, the overbuilding of the old structure at the Olympic Stadium becomes visible
Exterior view of the velodrome
The "stoa"
Water basin on the stoa
The former main entrance and ticket sales
Web links
- Athens 2004
- Official website of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex
- The Olympic Games in Athens also present technical excellence
Competition venues for the 2004 Summer Olympics
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Coordinates: 38 ° 2 ′ 19 ″ N , 23 ° 47 ′ 9 ″ E