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Athens Olympic Sports Complex

OAKA
Full name	Olympic Athletic Center of Athens "Spiros Louis"
Location	Maroussi, Athens, Greece
Renovated	2000-2004 (Olympic Games)
Owner	Greek Government
Architect	Santiago Calatrava (Revamping)

The Olympic Athletic Center of Athens "Spiros Louis" or OACA (Greek: OAKA), is a sport facilities complex located at Marousi, northeast Athens, Greece. The complex consists of five major venues as well as other supplementary sport facilities.

The Olympic Athletic Center of Athens has hosted the Mediterranean Games in 1991, the World Championship in Athletics in 1997 as well as other important athletic and cultural events. The most significant event the Athens Olympic Sports Complex has hosted, was the Olympic Games. OACA was the main venue for the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. The complex has been revamped for the games under a design produced by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

Venues

Olympic Stadium

The stadium, built in 1982 and refurbished in 2004, hosted the athletics events and the soccer final, as well as the Opening Ceremony on August 13, 2004 and the Closing Ceremony on August 29, 2004.

It is currently used as the home ground of AEK and Panathinaikos, two of the biggest football clubs in Greece.

The stadium was originally built in 1982 and was extensively refurbished for the games, including the addition of a roof.

Olympic Indoor Hall

The Olympic Indoor Hall (also known simply as the Indoor Hall) was completed in 1995 and was the largest indoor venue in use for sporting events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. It is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, in the suburb of Maroussi. The arena was used for artistic gymnastics and trampolining and also hosted the finals of the basketball matches at the games.

Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre

Olympic Aquatic Centre
The Olympic Aquatic Centre set up for water polo, as seen from the stands.
Building information
Full name:	Olympic Aquatic Centre
City:	Athens, Greece
Capacity:	11,500 (larger pool) 5,300 (smaller pool) 6,200 (indoor pool)

The Olympic Aquatic Centre is a complex at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, consisting of two outdoor pools and one indoor pool, that was built for the 1991 Mediterranean Games. It was refurbished and expanded for the 2004 Summer Olympics. The larger of the outdoor pools, which seats 11,500 spectators, hosted swimming and water polo events. The smaller pool, which hosted synchronized swimming, sat 5,300 fans. The indoor pool, which hosted the diving events, sat 6,200 observers.

The outdoor pool was the subject of significant controversy during the run-up to the Olympic games. A roof was planned that would have shielded the swimmers from the blazing Athens sun. This feature was later scrapped, leaving the athletes and most of the fans without shade during the events; however, during the course of the games, no athletes made major complaints regarding the facility, nor was there any mention of the lack of a roof affecting athletes' performances - in fact, many Olympic and world records were broken and/or set in this FINA-approved, world-class venue.

Athens Olympic Velodrome

The Olympic Velodrome is a stadium at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, built in 1991 for the Mediterranean Games. It was extensively refurbished in order to host the track cycling events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The stadium, which seats 5,250 - though only 3,300 seats were made publicly available for the games - has distinctive twin roofs covering the stands on each side, designed by Santiago Calatrava. The track, made of Afzelia wood, is 250 m. long and 7.5 m. wide. Construction of the stadium was completed on May 30, 2004, and it was officially opened on July 30, 2004.

Athens Olympic Tennis Centre

The main court at the Athens Olympic Tennis Centre.

Exterior view of the Main Court.

The Olympic Tennis Centre is a grouping of 16 tennis courts at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. It hosted the tennis matches at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The centre consists of a main stadium, known as the Main Court, seating 8,600 fans - though only 6,000 seats were made publicly available during the Olympics - two semifinal courts seating 4,300 spectators - though only 3,200 seats were made publicly available during the Olympics - and thirteen side courts seating 200 observers each. The centre was completed in February 2004 and officially opened on August 2, 2004.

Each of the courts use the DecoTurf cushioned acrylic surface, the same surface as the U.S. Open Grand Slam event. The Main Court, in particular, was extremely large by the standards of major tennis competitions, with the seats relatively far removed from the tennis court.

Transportation to/from the Venue

The Athens Olympic Sports Complex can be reached by Metro [stations "Neratziotissa" and "Irini" of Metro Line 1 (Green Line)], by suburban train (Proastiakos station "Neratziotissa"), or by direct bus lines [A7 (Kaniggos - Kifissia - N. Erythraia), Β7 (Kaniggos - Kifissia - N. Kifissia), 602 (N. Ionia - Kalogreza - Panormou Metro Station), 550 (P. Faliro - Kifissia), 441 (Irakleio Metro Station - Halandri - Aghia Paraskevi)]

Legacy

While it was reported in 2008 that almost all of the Olympic venues utilized for the 2004 games, including certain facilities in the Sports Complex such as the velodrome and tennis center, have fallen into varying states of dereliction or disrepair, all of the facilities in the Athens Olympic Sports Complex are still in use today.^[1][2]

The table below illustrates how the Athens Olympic Sports Complex facilities are used today:

References

External links

• Official site
• Olympic Indoor hall info and pictures at stadia.gr

Coordinates: 38°02′19″N 23°47′09″E / 38.03861°N 23.78583°E / 38.03861; 23.78583