Sports

A Mere 8 Years Later, Athens Olympic Venues in Decay

A Mere 8 Years Later, Athens Olympic Venues in Decay

ATHENS (AP/TheBlaze) – There‘s still one group that loves the training pool for athletes at the former Olympic village in Athens’ northern fringe.

Frogs.

They appear to delight in sitting on debris that floats on the half-filled pool’s murky waters.

The athletes village itself has fared somewhat better, turned into housing for workers.

Eight years after the 2004 Athens Games, many of the Olympic venues Greece built at great expense remain abandoned or rarely used. They are the focus of great public anger as the country struggles through a fifth year of recession and nearly three years of a debt crisis that has seen a surge in poverty and unemployment.

At the southern Athens venue for softball – a sport unknown in Greece and already out of the Summer Olympics – the occasional weed is all that remains on the dried-out field.

With no shortage of real beaches in Greece, the purpose-built beach volleyball stadium has seen minimal use in the past eight years, mostly just concerts.

A Mere 8 Years Later, Athens Olympic Venues in Decay

Other Athens venues have fared better. The badminton hall has been converted into a popular theater venue, the former international Olympic broadcast center is a shopping mall and what was the main press center now houses ministry offices.

The old baseball venue has been used for the past two years by a fourth-division local soccer club – although some of the stands could do with a lick of paint.

A Mere 8 Years Later, Athens Olympic Venues in Decay

The hockey venue hosted the Special Olympics last year, but material used in that event still lies abandoned around the rim.

The taekwondo and handball arena is occasionally used for non-sports events.

The main Athens Olympics complex is now mostly open to the public and its sporting venues are used by local teams or to host national championships.

Greek politicians, meanwhile, are still struggling to deal with those years of excess spending, and many economists still question the country’s future in the 17-nation common euro currency.

A Mere 8 Years Later, Athens Olympic Venues in Decay

Comments (50)

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  • hempstead1944
    Posted on August 4, 2012 at 12:41pm

    Ahhh, if it were ONLY the Olympic Venues that were in decay in Greece……rather than the whole damn country !

    Report Post »  
    • sillyfreshness
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 11:29pm

      The Olympics have become too expensive for cities to host. If you win a venue, your city has to drop about $50 billion dollars to build all new stadiums. Then that stuff just rots afterwards. It’s just too commercialized and has pro athletes now playing as well as silly contests like badminton and sand volleyball . It has lost its purpose and focus.

      Report Post » sillyfreshness  
  • dadadadio
    Posted on August 4, 2012 at 11:06am

    The Athens Olympics are part of what busted the Greek bank. Thank goodness BO failed in his attempt to bring this nightmare to Chicago. Never understood why any country would want the Olympics, especially in this day and age! Besides the enormous costs for a two-week event, it’s a bullseye for terrorists. Why hasn’t a permanent, maintainable facility (or perhaps facilities in multiple locations) been seriously considered? No doubt international pride and politics overwhelm common sense and economics. Oh well.

    Report Post » dadadadio  
  • dadsrootbeer
    Posted on August 4, 2012 at 10:42am

    Maybe after 4 more years of the resident child king socialist we to can look like Athens

    Report Post » dadsrootbeer  
  • BobtheMoron
    Posted on August 4, 2012 at 10:11am

    Europe is full of old useless buildings and ruins. I’ve said for years that they need battalion of very large Caterpillars to knock all that old crap down and start over. 3000 year old or 8 year old it all needs to be scraped clean and let it be open fields or useful real estate. Tourists look at that old crap in one day then go to the beach or shopping. Some nice, moderately priced hotels close to the beach, shopping and, perhaps, casinos would attract a lot more tourists than all of that old crap combined. I hear you, History. History of failed cultures. We already know what they did wrong. Who needs to look at the skeleton. All of Europe is failing at once, this time. They, apparently, did not read their own history,

    Report Post » BobtheMoron  
    • SacredHonor1776
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 12:33pm

      Those who destroy history, are those who empower those who would revise history. Those who destroy history make it easier for future generations to forget…

      We in the US are partly in this mess, because we have allowed some to destroy or hide elements of our historical culture, and then allowed the revisionists to take over in our educational institutions…

      Report Post »  
  • florida123
    Posted on August 4, 2012 at 9:59am

    No surprise, this is what happens when the majority of a countries people are provided for by the Government……..WAKE UP AMERICA

    Report Post » florida123  
  • winterhead
    Posted on August 4, 2012 at 5:26am

    Well here in Atlanta after 16 years everything is awesome. Braves play in the Olympic stadium. The GA Dome was already there. Swim and diving being used by GA Tech. Olympic Village is a dorm for GA Tech. Phillips Arena was already there and I guess you could say is being used by the Hawks. The Olympic Park is a great tourist trap with World of Coca Cola and the GA Aquarium. The World Congress Center that was there before is where all the weird but fum sports were. Badmitton, ping pong, judo. And as the largest convention center in the country, it the reason why Atlanta is the second biggest convention city. So all the hotel rooms are still here and full. Thanks everyone for paying to pave all our roads for a couple of years.

    Report Post »  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 10:17am

      Yes, it’s great down there! Created a lot of jobs for the crack salesmen and ticket scalpers and the GA Tech campus mugging business is booming! Money well spent.

      Report Post » Gonzo  
    • tckid17
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 11:24am

      I am glad Atlanta utilizes their facilities for this once in a lifetime two-week event. Greece was a trainwreck before, during, and after the Olympics. The only thing that can save Grease is John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

      Report Post »  
  • blazingaway
    Posted on August 4, 2012 at 2:17am

    The Olympics are a wasteland and a joke ..

    Report Post » blazingaway  
  • WatchingAmericaDie
    Posted on August 4, 2012 at 12:58am

    Much of the US will look like that in a few years, thanks to our spiraling debt. The federal debt is nearly $16 trillion. Divide this by the number of people who have jobs and you’re at $112,000 debt per worker. Divide $16 trillion by the number of people who actually pay federal income taxes and you’re at $194,000 debt per taxpayer. The federal govt will get what’s owed to them in one of two ways: massive tax increases or debt monetization (high inflation).

    Either way it’s money out of our pockets. And thanks to Obama and his wasteful Stimulus and retarded laws such as Obamacare and Dodd-Frank, we are screwed.

    Report Post »  
    • davecorkery
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 7:48am

      Whoa, bud, Bush started the stimulus program when he bailed out the banks. You can still watch his speech he gave on TV in Oct 2008. His eyes were as wide as saucers, with that “what have I done and I am going to look stupid” look. Pure terror. You are right about the money consequences. The big borrowing countries thought they could borrow forever. They never thought the lenders would stop lending.

      Report Post »  
    • BobtheMoron
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 9:57am

      @DAVIDCORKERY Yep. Bush was/is a Progressive just like Obama. We need these Progressives out of our government and colleges.

      Report Post » BobtheMoron  
    • proud2bmom
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 1:35pm

      Yes, Bush started it. But Obama was a senator who voted for it, even lobbied from the Senate floor to get others to pass it, urging them to “step up to the plate” and “do the right thing” by passing it. After he was elected but before he was inaugurated, he asked Bush to request that the second half of TARP funds be allocated, saying it would be irresponsible to enter office without having all the tools necessary to address the problem.

      Bush deserves his fair share of the blame, but Obama is to blame as well. He voted for the very problem that he “inherited”.

      Report Post »  
  • Stratosaurus
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 10:26pm

    Has anyone taken a good look at the state of the Chinese venues from just four years ago? Those facilities are as bad, or worse, than those in Greece.

    Report Post » Stratosaurus  
  • deano24
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 9:23pm

    I wonder what the Sydney Olympic venues look like & are they being used by the public.

    Report Post » deano24  
    • strewth_cobber
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 4:38am

      The main venues of the Sydney Olympics are still intact, and still in use for various sports and entertainment/festival events. Not sure about other venues that were situated at various locations of the Sydney metropolitan area. They get a fair turnout of spectators for major events such as international sports competitions and festival/concerts at the main olympic park stadium (whatever it’s called now – named after sponsor, which changes every so often), but when it comes to local sport events like National Rugby League competition, they tend to pack most of the spectators into one area so as to give the appearance for the TV cameras that the stadiums are packed.

      The main parks haven’t gone to rot – but the taxpaying Citizens still have to pay lots! And if you look at history of cities that held Olympics, they are still in major debt.

      Report Post »  
  • Magyar
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 9:16pm

    Take a good look at these photos….

    If OWEbama is re-elected, I guarantee that these photos will be of venues right here in the good ole U.S of A.

    The economic failure will be catastrophic— precisely according to the plan fostered and implemented by Soros, OWEbama, and all of the corrupt Communists, Marxists, Progressives involved in this insidious program of destruction.

    Report Post »  
    • WatchingAmericaDie
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 1:03am

      You’re right. Obama is a communist. It‘s too bad most Americans don’t realize this.

      Report Post »  
  • suz
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 8:39pm

    it‘s sad to see this and greece’s opening ceremony was the most beautiful one i’ve ever seen.

    Report Post » suz  
  • Git-R-Done
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 8:03pm

    And socialists falsely claim that capitalists waste natural resources. Socialist countries will allow things to be abandoned for the collective.

    Report Post »  
    • starman70
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 8:35pm

      I wonder if the Greek people could all get together and VOLUNTEER to fix up the Olympic venues. Oh yeah, Greece is one of the failed Euorpean socialist states where everyone expects the government to take care of them from cradle to grave. Volunteerism just doesn’t exist in their vocabulary hence everything is going to waste. The Greeks could learn a thing or two from Glenn’s group of Volunteers at “Restoring Love” in Dallas.

      The entire Euro-zone could and would be a far better place IF their people would get off their collective azzes and volunteer to clean up, restore and repair landmarks, parks, nursing homes and hundreds of landmarks and facilities presently going to rack and ruin. Unfortunately, as I said before, the word VOLUNTEER isn’t a relateable concept in European countries.

      Report Post »  
  • karenm
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 8:01pm

    I love watching the Olympics. It’s the only time I watch sports.

    Report Post » karenm  
  • Obamujahadeen
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:58pm

    The Olympics are a great idea that have long passed their useful time. Most of the world cant compete, they hate the US because we win at most everything, and they always will. Every place that‘s held the Olympics spends money they don’t have for these things and wait until the third world RIO Olympics!!!

    What a mess THOSE are gonna be, that’s the one that was supposed to be in Chicago that O blew at the outset with Daley and Orca and that shoulda been a warning of what was to come with a big Zero as president.

    Report Post » Obamujahadeen  
  • nobull14
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:39pm

    Just my opinion but the Olympic games are just a big waste of time and money. Never cared to watch them yet ?

    Report Post »  
    • RRFlyer
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 11:31pm

      You’re right. it’s JUST YOUR opinion. I completely disagree with you.

      Report Post »  
  • MrButcher
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:27pm

    The Roman Colosseum looks better and its almost 2000 years old.

    Report Post » MrButcher  
    • Verceofreason
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 11:25pm

      So is John McCain.

      Report Post » Verceofreason  
    • bioya1
      Posted on August 4, 2012 at 12:38pm

      So does Hillary and Harry Reid. In Harry’s case, he died and someone forgot to tell him.

      Report Post » bioya1  
  • cliffchism
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:12pm

    I am wondering when cities will realize that hosting the Olympics is a bust, and not a boon?

    Report Post »  
    • Ari Ben TZion
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:18pm

      Support Chick-fil-A – G-d bless Dan Cathy.

      Close your Amazon account and others to do the same.

      Put Amazon on the endangered species list!

      Report Post » Ari Ben TZion  
    • TheCounterRevolutionary
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:26pm

      I cite my previous comment. They can be a boon, if they are done right; with the right kind of management.

      Douche: definition; Any individual that rebukes a political opponent by invoking that opponent’s deceased parent(s); i.e. Senator Harry Reid.

      Report Post » TheCounterRevolutionary  
    • The-Real-Enrico
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:27pm

      Atlanta could argue against your point. Everything we built are still in actively being used.

      Bring back over here. We know how to capitalize off these things.

      Report Post » The-Real-Enrico  
  • TheCounterRevolutionary
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:09pm

    More props to Mitt. He turned our Olympics from a money pit into a net gain for the state of Utah. In addition to that, we also have continued to use our venues for other activities which has created additional revenue.

    Harry Reid is a GIANT, SUPER, ULTRA, MEGA, TITAN-DOUCHE!!!

    Report Post » TheCounterRevolutionary  
  • Truth Meter
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:08pm

    believe it or not Atlanta didn’t have any venues that were totally abandoned afterwards. the olympic stadium was converted to Braves Turner Field, Ga dome is still occupied by the NFL. Occone Outdoor water rapids park is still open to the public. Olympic park is a nice central park in downtown atl. We even still have the original Torch, the only problem is they placed it next to Jimmy Carter Center and the flame went out. Just like a Commie Democrat to extinguish hopes and dreams.

    Report Post »  
    • The-Real-Enrico
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:18pm

      Yep we did good with our resources. The wonders of good free-market system. When innovation and business take over economies thrive.

      Report Post » The-Real-Enrico  
  • hi
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:07pm

    If they got rid of the dumb sports and only had the cool ones they wouldnt have to spend so much money. I love basketball but come on, those guys don’t need to be in the Olympics!

    Also Greece is in bad shape bc of Obama-like economic policies, not the Olympics.

    Report Post » hi  
    • Chet Hempstead
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 8:11pm

      Olympic basketball was fun to watch before they let the pros in, and it contributed to the popularity of the sport in other countries. I get that communist countries used to cheat by lying about what their athletes did for a living, but we always won a lot of medals anyway. I still think the change was a mistake.

      Report Post »  
    • Chet Hempstead
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 8:17pm

      I could do without handball, however. For those who haven’t watched it, this is not what we call handball, the game where two guys bounce a small fast moving ball off a wall. This is more like backwards soccer where you use hands but not feet, played with a small underinflated ball on a small indoor court. Truly a dumb, boring game.

      Report Post »  
  • DJEyeDub
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:05pm

    Ah the beauty of the Socialist State.

    Obama has this plan for the MLB, NFL and NHL stadiums and if sports does survive; the contract for players will be the right to live, a half decent apartment, some better food than the normies and a high five from the FLOTUS opposed to millions of dollars in salary (which the state would tax 100% anyway).

    Report Post » DJEyeDub  
    • Godfather.1
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:36pm

      Do you have any evidence to support that comment, or is it just another crazy ********* comment pulled out of your ass?

      Report Post »  
    • P C BE DAMNED
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 8:00pm

      godfather 1
      Pull it out of your own ass. I don’t like you, you little sh1t. FOOL

      Report Post » P C BE DAMNED  
  • dennisS
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:02pm

    Maybe Adam Smith could get a job with the Greek government cleaning up the mess over there since he has been so good at cleaning up messes in Tucson at Chick-fil-A!

    Report Post »  
  • Too_Far_Gone
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:54pm

    Atlanta 2014

    Report Post » Too_Far_Gone  
    • The-Real-Enrico
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:22pm

      I agree. We did great last time and we can do it again. We’ll be glad take foreigners money to boost our economy.

      Report Post » The-Real-Enrico  
    • GoodStuff
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 8:05pm

      “Atlanta 2014”

      The Winter Olympics?

      Report Post »  
    • TulsaYeeHaw
      Posted on August 3, 2012 at 11:24pm

      We would have the advantage of playing in the heat.

      Report Post »  
  • I Aint PC
    Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:52pm

    China’s Olympic venues only took four years to look that bad.

    Report Post »  
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