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Facilities

The facilities for the 2004 Paralympic Games are shared with the Olympic Games held a few weeks earlier in Athens. The facilities are under construction (as of May 2004) and there are concerns about whether they will be finished. The Greek organizers have reassured people that the Games will be ready.

The following are the facilities for events for athletes who are blind or visually impaired. For full information on the facilities and the Games visit the Official 2004 Paralympic website.

Internal Page Navigation: Judo | Goalball | Swimming | Athletics | Cycling | Paralympic Village |

Judo

Thousands of Judo and Boccia fans will have the opportunity during the Paralympic Games to attend their favourite sport in the Olympic Hall, situated in Ano Liossia, in the northwest region of Athens. The construction area will cover a surface of 35,000 m2 surrounded by supplementary support areas, such as warm up areas, athletes’ rest rooms, training areas, change rooms, medical-hygiene areas, administration, National Federation offices, security services areas, pressroom, spectators services areas, recreation areas etc. The General Secretariat of Sports will deliver this project by the end of December 2003.

Details:
Sport: Judo
Competition Schedule: 18-20 September
Athletes participating: 120
Estimated spectators attendance: 3,000
Total land surface: 65,000 sq m (approx.)
Distance from Olympic Village: 17km
Press seats: 30 written press, 10 photographers

Goalball

A completely new venue is under construction at the Faliro Coastal Zone, close to the main port of Athens, Piraeus. The Olympic Sports Centre with two Pavilions, will host the Goalball events.
The Sports Pavilion together with the Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre, the Marina and the Esplanade are included in a wider urban area redevelopment project of the coastal zone.

Details:
Sport: Goalball
Competition Schedule: 20-26 September
Athletes participating: 120
Estimated spectators attendance: 4,000
Total land surface: 81,000 sq m
Distance from Olympic Village: 25km
Press seats: 30 written press, 10 photographers

Swimming

The Olympic Aquatic Centre located at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Maroussi, will host the ever-popular swimming events (Paralympic). The centre consists of two outdoor pools and one indoor pool. The General Secretariat of Sports (GSS) will undertake the renovations. The Olympic Aquatic Centre is expected to be ready by the end of 2003.

Details:
Sport: Swimming
Competition Schedule: 19-27 September
Athletes participating: 585
Estimated spectators attendance: 3,000
Total land surface: 78,000 sq m
Distance from Olympic Village: 14.5km
Press seats: 180 written press, 42 photographers

Athletics

The Olympic Stadium, the centre of attraction during the 2004 Paralympics Games, is situated at Marousi, a northern suburb of Athens. The stadium is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. Thousands of spectators from all over the world who will join together during Games-time to attend the exciting athletics, as well as the Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremony. ATHENS 2004 and the Ministry of Culture have asked Santiago Calatrava, the well-known architect, to redesign and upgrade OAKA in an innovative and creative way.
The Ministry of Culture is responsible for this project, which is expected to be completed by June 2004.

Details:
Sport: Athletics
Competition Schedule: 19-27 September
Athletes participating: 1,040
Estimated spectators attendance: 35,000
Total land surface: 127,625 sq m
Distance from Olympic Village: 14.5km
Press seats: The Venue will operate as Main Press Center

Cycling

Cycling consists of two venues for the Road events and the Track events.
Road Cycling during the Paralympic Games will take place in the Vouliagmeni area in the south of Athens. Planning and construction is under the responsibility of the General Secretariat of Sports. ATHENS 2004 will confirm the final route and will define the necessary construction overlays for Paralympic Games requirements.

Details:
Sport: Road Cycling
Competition Schedule: 25-27 September
Athletes participating: 140
Estimated spectators attendance: N/A
Total land surface: 110,200 sq m
Distance from Olympic Village: 45km
Press seats: 30 written press, 10 photographers

The Cycling Velodrome, at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, is the venue that will host the Track Cycling event during the Paralympic Games. It is expected to seat 5,000 spectators who will have the opportunity to view the fast-paced sport of cycling in the modern velodrome venue.
The renovation of the Velodrome is included in the project “Aesthetic Unification of OAKA”, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.

Details:
Sport: Track Cycling
Competition Schedule: 18-22 September
Athletes participating: 150
Estimated spectators attendance: 3,000
Total land surface: 53,400 sq m
Distance from Olympic Village: 14.5km
Press seats: 45 written press, 15 photographers

Paralympic Village

The Paralympic Village will be established in a selected area of the Olympic Village complex, which is situated at LEKANES in the Municipality of Acharnes, at a distance of 11 km from the Athens Olympic Stadium (OCO). The requirements of the Paralympic Village will be generally incorporated into the specifications of the Olympic Village.

Within the Paralympic Village area, 4000 athletes and 2000 team officials will be accommodated. At least 2000 of these are expected to be wheelchair users. One thousand technical officials will also be accommodated in a part of the Paralympic Village, separated from the area occupied by the athletes and team officials.

In order to serve the needs of all the athletes with various disabilities, all the facilities and outdoor spaces will be designed to meet the accessibility requirements established for the Village. This will be achieved through adaptations of permanent designs and the provision of additional facilities for disabled athletes. The outcome will be an effective, accessible, safe and efficient Paralympic Village with a minimum of work to be undertaken in the transitional period, between the end of the Olympic Games and the commencement of the Paralympic Games.

Residences

The residence buildings consist of two, three and four-storey buildings. All will be wheelchair accessible via ramps with elevator access to the upper floors, except for the two-storey residences in which only the ground floor apartments will be wheelchair accessible.

All the apartments will be air-conditioned and will have either three or four bedrooms.
The three bedroom apartments will be used by six athletes and the four bedroom apartments will be used by eight athletes. During the Paralympic Games use, the numbers of athletes accommodated in each apartment will be reduced to allow for better accommodation conditions for the wheelchair users requiring more space. The apartments for the wheelchair athletes will also have specially adapted bathrooms.

Special attention will be paid to the landscaping of the Village, and planting will be chosen to meet bioclimatic, accessibility and aesthetic requirements.

The Residential Zone and infrastructure works construction have already been started and, according to the time schedule, Labour Housing Organisation (OEK) will handover the Village to ATHENS 2004 by the end of 2003.

The Paralympic Village will operate during the Paralympic Games, which will be staged during the last two weeks of September 2004.

As the Olympic Village will operate as a prototype social housing estate in its post-Olympic use, the accessibility requirements incorporated in the design solutions will also serve the needs of disabled, elderly and all other future permanent residents who are the OEK beneficiaries, as a legacy of the Paralympic Games.

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