Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Friday visited the Olympic facilities in Paiania, which had been abandoned for many years and are now being renovated, upgraded and turned into a high-standard training center for Olympic sports. At the same time, he noted, sports and cultural facilities were being created for the residents of the region of eastern Attica.
Mitsotakis pointed out that 2024 was an Olympic year that also marked 20 years since the organisation of the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, while adding that the history of the Olympic facilities condensed, in its own special and traumatic way, the history of Greece over the last two decades. Olympic facilities that had cost the Greek taxpayers a lot of money had been abandoned and allowed to fall into decay. Now, however, through the actions of the current government, he said, they were being restored and used for the benefit of a new generation of athletes.
“This is also the history of these two very important buildings, which are now an integral part of the OAKA complex. By the end of the year, two state-of-the-art training facilities will be delivered, which will then be surrounded, with the support of the Region, by other open facilities in order to support sports activity in society more broadly. Step by step, we are making use of the endowment and the wealth of the Olympic Facilities and we are giving the infrastructure across the country to a new generation of athletes to excel, to make us all proud again,” the prime minister underlined.
Mitsotakis, accompanied by Alternate Sports Minister Yiannis Vroutsis, was given a tour of the premises by Konstantinos Halioris, coordinator – general manager of OAKA, under whose management the facilities have fallen, and was informed about the progress of their renovation and upgrading, which is being implemented with the support of Lamda Development.
On his part, Vroutsis noted: “This is a really excellent sports centre, which is harmoniously integrated into the emblematic sports centre of OAKA and will be the largest sports facility in the country, which we aspire to be truly sustainable and iconic. To produce athletes, to exercise the new generation and to bring us moments of glory, as we want.”
The Olympic facilities of Paiania, covering an area of 10.8 hectares, were built in 2002 as a training center for athletics and volleyball. In 2023 they came under the exclusive use and management of the Athens Olympic Sports Centre (OAKA) “Spyros Louis”, which in collaboration with Lamda Development is proceeding with their modernisation, a project due to be concluded within 2024.
Specifically, the Indoor Athletics and Indoor Volleyball centres are being renovated, energy upgrades are being made, while the metal components of the roof are undergoing maintainance and repair, both inside and outside the buildings. At the same time, the 16 rooms in the hostels are being renovated for the accommodation of athletes of the national teams.
Special care is being given to improving disabled access and providing accommodation for people with disabilities at the athletes’ hostels, providing ramps and disabled lifts.
SOURCE; ANA-MPA
