Tensions Over Greek Games
A T H E N S, Greece, Sept. 15 -- As the world turns its eyes toward Sydney, the International Olympic Committee is looking toward Greece — home of the first Olympics and host of the 2004 Summer Games.
And it’s concerned by what it sees in Athens, a city that is making an all-out effort to prepare for the responsibility it has assumed.
IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch has said he is “very much worried regarding the timetables” for the completion of the venues to be used in the Games.
“The coming six months will be crucial,” says Jacques Rogge, an IOC official who visited Greece last month. “The government must move the deadlines forward. … Time has been lost in the past, but no time can be lost in the future.
“The clock is ticking.”
Rising Tensions
Greek Culture Minister Theodoros Pangalos suddenly canceled his trip to observe the Olympics in Sydney.
The Greek government said the cancellation was because his workload in Athens was too heavy, but many members of the Greek media have commented on a suspected rift between him and the Athens 2004 Olympic organizing committee and its president, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, a wealthy public relations specialist who campaigned tirelessly for Greece to host the Games.
According to the commentators, Pangalos is furious over the staff’s salaries — amounting to nearly $30 million a month, a figure Angelopoulos-Daskalaki asked the Culture Ministry to approve.
Pangalos reportedly also wants to dissociate himself from the committee’s planned expensive partying in Australia.
Prime Minister Costas Simitis, the same sources say, approves of Pangalos’ decision and considers the demands of Angelopoulos-Daskalaki excessive.
Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, meanwhile, is said to be furious at Pangalos — and her supporters are suggesting he is avoiding Sydney to sidestep possible IOC scrutiny of the Athens Games.
Still Behind Schedule
Related Stories
ABC News Live