Elliniko Olympic Complex
The Hellinikon Olympic Complex or Helliniko Olympic Complex is a sports center for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens was built. It is 12 km south of the city center in the suburb of Elliniko , 36.2 km from the Olympic Village.
history
After the Athens-Ellinikon airport was closed , the site was to be converted into a park. At the beginning of this planning, almost all buildings were to be demolished, an architecture competition brought the turning point: the Terminal East, designed in 1963 by the Finnish star architect Eero Saarinen , was not to be cut off from the facility and parts of the runway were to remain as a promenade including the furnishings. The park idea gave way more and more to a mixed use as a sports and recreation facility. Olympic Airlines donated a Boeing 747 to the site and also raised the idea of an aviation museum on a site at the former airport, to which the company would donate a collection of exhibits. The mixed use was also criticized, as it was feared that the park would be significantly reduced in size. The construction of the Helliniko Olympic Complex and the conversion of some hangars into a depot for the Athens tram were the first phase of a mixed use of the area.
2004 Olympic Games
During the Olympic Games, the center consisted of five different competition venues:
Indoor arena and fencing hall
The preliminary round of the basketball tournament and the final of the handball tournament took place in the indoor arena . Basketball has an audience capacity of 15,000. in handball 13,500. During the Olympic Games, capacity was limited to 10,700 and 10,300 respectively. The fencing hall is an annex to the indoor arena, in which the fencing competitions were held. The audience capacity was 3,800 in the preliminary round and 5,000 in the finals. The construction work ended on May 31, 2004, the official opening took place on July 30, 2004; the construction costs amounted to 80 million euros. After the Olympic Games, various basketball clubs, including AEK Athens and Panionios Athens, used the indoor arena. The final of the Greek basketball cup also takes place regularly in the Helleniko Olympic Complex.
Olympic Baseball Center
The baseball center consists of two stadiums. The larger one holds 8,700 spectators, the smaller 4,000 spectators. During the Olympic Games, the capacity was limited to 6,700 and 3,300 spectators respectively. The organizers had to resort to foreign aid for the planning and construction, because before the games were awarded to Athens in 1997 there were only a few small baseball fields in Greece. Construction work ended on February 27, 2004; the official opening took place on August 12, 2004, one day before the opening ceremony; the construction costs amounted to 10 million euros. After the end of the Olympic Games, the baseball center was redesigned so that the football club Ethnikos Piraeus now plays its home games there.
Olympic Softball Stadium
The softball center consists of a stadium that holds 4,800 spectators, although a maximum of 3,400 were occupied during the Olympic Games. There are two training fields next door. The construction work ended on February 29, 2004, the official opening took place on July 30, 2004; the construction costs amounted to 8 million euros.
Olympic Canoe / Kayak Slalom Center
The total area of the center for canoe slalom competitions is 288,000 m². It includes the white water competition course, a training course and a 27,000 m² artificial lake for warming up. It seats 7,600, but during the Olympic Games the capacity was limited to 6,700. The construction work ended on March 31, 2004, the inauguration took place on the occasion of the White Water World Cup from April 22 to 25, 2004; the construction costs amounted to 10 million euros.
Olympic Hockey Center
The hockey center consists of two stadiums. The larger one holds 7,300 spectators, the smaller 2,100 spectators. During the Olympic Games, however, the audience was limited to 5,200 and 1,200 respectively. There is a training ground next to the two stadiums. The construction work ended on February 29, 2004, the official opening took place on August 11, 2004; the construction costs amounted to 11 million euros.
During the 2004 Paralympic Summer Games , the stadium was used for soccer competitions.
Since then, the hockey stadium has remained unused and in ruins. Hockey has not been played there since 2004.
Web links
- Olympicproperties.gr: Description on the official website Olympicproperties ( Memento from February 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Worldstadiums.com ( Memento of the original from September 15, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.europlan-online.de/gr-athen-ethnikos-ao-manis-gipedo-ellinikou/verein/3994
- ^ The 2004 Olympic Legacy
Competition venues for the 2004 Summer Olympics
Coordinates: 37 ° 53 ′ 56 ″ N , 23 ° 44 ′ 1 ″ E