Reports seem to be saying Athens will not be ready for the Olympics. Did anyone else see this coming?
I spent 9 months in Greece (ok Crete…Greeks may argue the toss) It is a wonderful country, with wonderful, gregerious (?sp), friendly, volatile, unique people. I worked in resturants where pot flinging was a regular event, where old blokes playing a quiet game of backgammon could turn hostile at a moments notice. They also made up ten minutes later and had likely done both on a daily basis for 40 years.
I was gobsmacked as a NZ’er at the gratitude Cretians had for the NZ involvment on Crete in WW2. On more then one occassion I was not alllowed to pay for a meal or a coffee because someones Grandad had been rescued by a Kiwi.
All in all I think the Greeks have a wonderful way of life and a wonderful flow to life.
I did work there though. I worked there wayyyyyyy back before they were part of
the E.U…not that that would have helped me work there anyway, I was a Kiwi, working illegally the whole time. The local cop used to ring to announce he was on a raid for illegal workers…I was sent to the loo, till he had “inspected”
It was a forgone conclusion that girls washed dishes or cleaned stuff and boys mxed and poured concrete. The boys loved the concrete jobs cause they lasted forever.
Here starts my amusement that Athens would ever be ready for the Oylimpics. Greeks work on their own schedule. They genuinly are kind wonderful people…but they work on their schedule. I had many mates work on building projects that were to last 3 weeks and were still in full swing 4 months later.
I don’t believe Athens will be ready…I also don’t believe that Greeks will be ashamed of the fact that they could have been ready if they had had enough time.
I reckon this time we need to be prepared to delay the Oylmpics. Shit they invented them, let them catch up to “Greek time”
Read in my local paper.
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle writes “if every thing goes smoothly, the torch relay will end at the opening ceremony when the last torch bearer runs in to the stadium and welds the roof in place”
All I know, first-hand, about Greece is that Greek guy I met at J.R.'s in Dallas a couple of years ago. He rocked my world. Oh yes he did. Just thinking about that night still brings a smile to my face.
I’ve only spent about 3 weeks there but believe your assessment to be spot on.
It won’t be ready, security will suffer because of it, and it’ll be a long time before Athens is again awarded the games. Bummer because it could be a helluva venue.
Sadly, this is not news to people who’ve been paying attention. In fact, nearly 3 years ago, I saw numerous snippets in sports columns saying that Olympic officials could ALREADY tell that the Greeks didn’t have their act together, could ALREADY see that the Athens Olympics were a fiasco in the making, and were secretly meeting with city officials in Sydney, in the hope that they could persuade the Aussies (who did a superb job running the Games in 2004) to host the Games again in 2008.
On further reflection, yes, I may have meant 2000 and 2004.
Fact remains, the Olympic Committee has known for several years that the Greeks were way behind on construction, and that their plans for security were woefully inadequate (mind you, these security concerns were troubling the Olympic Committee long BEFORE 9/11).