Greece Delivers the 2004 Olympics Just in Time

The reporting of Greece's successful presentation for the 2004 Olympics before the International Olympic Committee in 1997 conveyed surprise since Greece failed in its bid for the 1996 Games. Reporting immediately focused on Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki as the leader of the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee and who also delivered the proposal in front of the IOC. The 2004 Olympics in Greece was a success despite the overwhelming pressure put on the Greek organizers by the IOC and international concerns for security. Articles by 2000 commented on the slow progress and offered considerable criticism after the IOC threatened to take the Games out of Athens. The Athens Organizing Committee acknowledged the challenge in its bid to the IOC in preparing an ancient city with a modern infrastructure and the promise of having a secure Games with its projected plan to succeed on both issues but the reporting before the Games offered little assurance this would be done.

Failed Bid for 1996 Summer Games

The Economist correctly predicted in its 1990 article "Home again for the Olympics?" that a Greek Olympic bid committee would have to do more than rely on emotion alone to impress the IOC. The Economist reported that the European Community would pay half the cost for Greece staging the Olympics but not even a huge financial gift could make up for a government "desperately short on cash." Even a decade before September 11th, security was cited as a major factor against awarding the Games to Greece as well as Athens' poor infrastructure. A 1997 analysis for the Greek failed bid in the Sports Illustrated article "It's all Greek to them" also included a critical opinion of the presentation given by Greek actress Melina Mercouri. Both the Economist and Sports Illustrated articles stressed that the Greek Olympic bid committee did more than just fail to impress but also alienated the IOC by demanding that the Olympics must be held in the country of the Games origin and offering no constructive plan to rebuild Athens' infrastructure.

Success in Winning the 2004 Games

The winning bid for the 2004 Games was built on the lessons learned from its mistakes in its pitch for the Centennial Games of 1996. "It's all Greek to them" was written shortly after Greece's successful bid for the 2004 Games and provides a contrast to the failing bid for the 1996 Games. The Sports Illustrated article portrayed Greece as giving a concrete plan to address infrastructure concerns and gave considerable amount of praise for the "riveting theater" presentation delivered by Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and quotes an admiring IOC member, "Gianna did it all by herself." Most articles with mention of Daskalaki commend her as the face and driving force for the winning bid, such as Business Week's article on June 7, 2004 giving her credit for "energizing preparations for the Summer Games".

Critical Analysis of the Slow Progression of Athens Build Up to the Games

Acquiring the 2004 Games was only the first hurdle for the Greek organizers. The toughest task was the implementation of its proposal to the IOC. By 2000 Greece's slow progress in reaching its proposed timetables such as construction of Olympic venues, lack of mass transit, and hotel accommodations was expressed in magazine articles with descriptive and critical titles, for example the Economist's article "Greece's Olympic Worry" October 7, 2000, "Greece Hits the Wall" by Time International July 10, 2000, and Maclean's "Olympic Mess" July 24, 2000. All three articles portray the Greek organizers as infective due to the bureaucracy of getting any task completed on time whether it was the large project of completing the Olympic Village down to even the smallest details citing the example of the former Athens Organizing Committee (ATHOC) president unable to hire a typist for over three months as reported in the Time International article. But all three articles did offer some hope that Greece would be able to cut through the red tape by the rehiring of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki to head the ATHOC. The Economist called her the "tough Cretan lawyer who masterminded Greece's Olympic bid" , Maclean described her charisma and leadership, and Time International focused on her demand of having a "free hand" to force her reorganization through the bureaucracy. While praising the decision for Daskalaki to step in the warning in these articles in 2000 was the threat by the IOC that the games might be taken away from Greece.

By late 2001, Time International wrote an article focused less on the bureaucratic problems and more on the progression of the improved infrastructure. Its article "Race Against Time" published December 10, 2001, featured a short question and answer session with Daskalaki who portrayed a sense of urgency with the remaining time left until the Games. Dinah Robinson's article in the 2001 December issue of the Business Traveller described the hundreds of construction cranes and the changing attitude of getting projects done on time. The completion of a new airport in March 2001 was cited as a major accomplishment to help the transportation concerns of the IOC and since the article was written the IOC warning of losing the Games had been lifted.

On the eve of the Games Time International and Guardian Unlimited published accounts of Athens almost not finishing preparations in time. On May 24, 2004, Andrew Purvis reports in Time International an article "Athens Clears a Hurdle: The gods smile. The roof fits. By August the games should be camera ready. Will they be visitor friendly" that provides a brief description of past setbacks and the progress made since Daskalaki reorganized and scaled back some of the more excessive projects. Duncan Mackay's article on July 23, 2004 in the Guardian Unlimited, "Athens is suddenly winning the race to be ready", gives more of a perspective by Greek officials in their quotes expressing their satisfaction at "defying predictions". Both articles express a general feeling of relief on part of all involved in the 2004 Olympics including the citizens of Athens who had to live through the construction for the past four years.

Greece's Received Mixed Reviews on Security Concerns

Since the 1972 Munich Games security became one of the main concerns and requirements the IOC placed on any host city. With Greece's large coast line and its close location to the Middle East there was always a concern about the threat of terrorism.

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