Athens under the microscope
Posted on Monday, May 10 @ 01:51:36 PDT by Poster
Officials from the International Olympic Committee are visiting Athens for their last full inspection of preparations for the summer Olympics.
They were set to spend the day touring Olympic venues to check progress made since their last visit.
Building work has been plagued by delays and about a third of venues are still unfinished less than 100 days before the Games begin.
There is concern the sliding roof over the main stadium is still not ready.
The BBC's Richard Galpin, in Athens, says there is much anticipation that the sliding together of the two halves of the roof will begin on Monday, timed to coincide with the IOC visit.
The 18,000-tonne steel and glass roof structure is of such a pioneering design that the sliding along two 70-metre tracks will be an extremely delicate and complex operation.
If successful it will be a huge step forward and a welcome boost for Greek officials after months of negative publicity.
But the IOC itself appears to be backing off from making any serious threats to the Greek authorities, our correspondent says.
Olympic officials had said the roof needed to be finished by 20 May, or contingency plans would have to be used to protect spectators and athletes from the soaring temperatures in Athens in August.
But now the committee is simply saying the work must be finished by the end of June to allow sufficient time for work on the rest of the stadium as well as for test events and rehearsals.
Officially the IOC says it is confident the Athens games will be a success, but there is still a massive amount of work to be done to get everything ready before the opening ceremony on 13 August.
Besides the venues, new public transport systems, including a rail line linking the airport with the city, also have to be finished.
The next three months will be nerve-wracking but experts believe it is all feasible, our correspondent says.
Olympic officials have also been playing down fears about last week's triple bomb blast on the outskirts of Athens.
The attacks are thought to have been part of a political protest against the Greek government rather than against the Olympic Games.
