It is a ritual that will traverse, at least symbolically, the grand expanse of three millenniums of Western civilization, a spectacle revered by the country where both the Olympics and the marathon were born. But what Greece needs now is not another inspiring long-distance run–it needs a mad dash to the finish. Preparations for the 2004 Summer Games are lagging far behind schedule, and many outside observers believe the organizers might fall on their faces, and lose face as well. Some competition sites are now scheduled for completion less than two months before the Games begin. Critical infrastructure remains unfinished, including new rail links where some tracks haven’t yet been laid. One local newspaper summed up the state of affairs with a cartoon showing a worker running a hose into an empty pool as an Olympic diver is poised to plunge.
The International Olympic Committee, which back in 2000 roused local organizers out of a three-year torpor by threatening to move the Games elsewhere, is now out of alternatives. Skepticism has crept back into its private pronouncements and relativism into its public ones. Over platters of sardines and calamari at an Athens seaside restaurant, IOC vice president Kevan Gosper urged reporters, “Don’t just see how much work there is to be done. Remember how much has already been done.”
Not all the delays are entirely Greece’s fault. There is growing irritation among Greeks about the burgeoning security plan–with costs approaching $1 billion, three times those of Sydney in 2000–that has slowed work as complex defense systems have been integrated with the Olympic grid. And there is also resentment of a world that tends to judge Olympics by Hollywood standards. While nightly light shows are planned for the Parthenon, locals bristle at the lack of respect for the unique interplay of culture and history that Greece inherently brings to the Games.
Still, it is hard to appreciate such interplay while so much of the city looks more like a construction site than an archeological paradise. If these Games are regarded as a flop, it could have devastating consequences for tourism and other industries that Greece hopes to showcase to the world. Locals seem to be counting on a phenomenon they call “Greek magic” to save the day. They insist that Greece always rallies late in the game. “We are similar to the nonfavorite runner in a marathon who is not noticed much as he struggles somewhere in the middle,” Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyanni said recently. “But we are optimistic that this runner bursts ahead in the final laps, surprising the world and, perhaps, even himself.”
With just five months to go, Athens is well past the middle of the race. And the larger Olympic family, with its high-tech, corporate culture, isn’t exactly brimming with confidence over the prospect of some kind of mystical salvation. As one non-Greek with close ties to the Athens effort says, “They pretty much have to lie about everything and just hope that most of those lies turn out to be true.” More rapid change is expected, since elections earlier this month installed the conservative New Democracy Party, ending more than a decade of socialist rule. While both parties agreed to leave the Olympics out of the campaign debate, the new prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, is less burdened by past promises.
For most of the world, which experiences the Games via TV, Athens’ readiness is not a major concern. On Friday the 13th of August, thousands of athletes will march into the Olympic Stadium regardless of whether the roof is in place. And once the competition begins, those watching from home won’t be affected if the new tram comes up a few stops short, and won’t be distressed if the marathon route is lined with banners instead of trees.
But the wrath of Olympic visitors who might be inconvenienced or even appalled can be costly. One only has to recall Atlanta, which cast the ‘96 Games as a coming-out party for the citadel of the New South. But tawdry commercialism, wide-spread systemic failures and a tragic bombing (coupled with a botched police investigation) tarnished the city’s international reputation and made Atlanta, at least in Olympic parlance, synonymous with disaster. Athens is already synonymous with the Olympics itself. And that’s the image the city desperately wants to keep.
