IOC says Athens must do better on 2004 Games

Olympic leader Jacques Rogge gave Greece a mixed report on Friday on its efforts to host the 2004 Athens Games, saying it must start construction soon or risk hurting the quality of the Games.

"I can report to you that we have a mixed bag of results," International Olympic Committee (IOC) coordinator Rogge told reporters after two days of meetings with 2004 organisers (ATHOC) and government officials.

He said the wrestling, weightlifting and gymnastics and table tennis arenas were behind schedule and stressed that his top concern was seeing buildings constructed.

"This is something that we regret very much. No delay is possible there," he said. "I urged the prime minister to do everything in his power so that these deadlines are respected."

Rogge, a favourite to succeed IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch later this year, said the next six months were the most critical and although there was no possibility of moving the Games, he warned their success was at stake.

"There is no way we will move the Games to another place but the quality of the Games will be decided in the next six months," he said.

WARNINGS PROMPT RESULTS

The IOC issued a veiled threat to Athens in April to overcome red tape and infighting or risk the Games. The warning spurred renewed efforts, headed by Prime Minister Costas Simitis himself, which won Rogge's approval in November.

But organisers suffered more executive resignations and deadlines in the construction of key venues kept being extended.

ATHOC has blamed the rigidity of the Greek public sector for slowing down the pace in staging the world's biggest sports festival, a luxury the IOC has warned Athens cannot afford.

ATHOC president Gianna Angelopopulos appealed for structural changes to allow ministries to function as effectively as the private sector.

"The rigidities of the system are what worry me," she told the news conference. "We need changes where and if they are necessary...Time is our enemy."

Rogge said he had stressed the point to Simitis and his ministers.

"We've urged the government to speed up the administrative process," he said.

On the plus side, Rogge said the IOC was pleased to see ATHOC's progress, which included clinching a TV broadcaster deal, launching the volunteers, sponsorship and marketing programmes and bringing its master plan up to date.

He also praised Greece's security plans, saying IOC experts found the $600 million project to form a special Olympics force and plant surveillance all over the city "the best" the government could come up with.

But he said the criticism of ATHOC's efforts in the international press, including accusations Greece was lax on terrorism, was partly due to lack of proper communications, a problem the organisers were now addressing.

Four environmental and historical groups said they had handed Rogge a protest bearing 11,000 signatures against locating the rowing and canoeing venue at the Skinias wetlands near Athens, close to the ancient battleground of Marathon.

Rogge said the Skinias protests were a result of misinformation, that the area was not a nature preserve but full of rubbish which the 2004 projects would clean up.