Helliniko Olympic Complex
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Helliniko Olympic Complex is situated at Ellinikon on the east coast of Greece south of Athens, approximately 16 kilometres from the Olympic Village. It was built on the site of the former Ellinikon International Airport for the staging of the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Paralympics. It consists of 5 separate venues.
Contents |
[edit] Olympic Canoe/Kayak Slalom Centre
The Olympic Canoe/Kayak Slalom Centre 37°54′04″N 23°44′06″E / 37.901°N 23.735°E hosted the Canoe and Kayak Slalom events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. It consists of a competition course, a secondary training course, and a warm-up lake of natural form that occupies a total area of 27,000 square metres. The total land surface area consists of 288,000 square metres. The facility seats 7,600 spectators, though only 6,700 seats were made publicly available for the Olympics.
[edit] Olympic Hockey Centre
Olympic Hockey Centre was the site of the Field Hockey events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The facility consists of two hockey fields. The larger stadium seats 7,200 fans - though only 5,200 seats have been made publicly available during the games, and the smaller stadium seats 2,100 spectators - though only 1,200 seats have been made publicly available during the games. The facility was completed on February 29, 2004 and officially opened on August 11, 2004, shortly before the beginning of the Games.
During the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games, the Olympic Hockey Centre was the venue for Football 5-a-side and Football 7-a-side
[edit] Olympic Baseball Centre
The Olympic Baseball Centre in Athens consists of two Baseball stadiums. It was the site of the Baseball games at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The facility consists of two fields. The larger stadium seats 8,700 fans-though only 6,700 seats were made publicly available during the Olympics - and the smaller stadium seats 4,000 spectators- though only 3,300 seats were made publicly available during the Games. The facility had to be constructed with significant foreign help in the design, as there were only a handful of dusty baseball diamonds in the whole of Greece before the 2004 Olympics were awarded to Athens in 1997. Construction on the facility was completed on February 27, 2004, and it was officially opened on August 12, 2004, a day before the Opening Ceremonies.
During the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games, the Olympic Baseball Centre was the venue for Archery.
[edit] Olympic Softball Stadium
The Olympic Softball Stadium is a softball stadium that hosted the Softball during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The venue consists of a main softball field of 4,800 seats - though only 3,400 seats were made publicly available during the games - and 2 warm-up fields nearby. Construction on the facility was completed on February 29, 2004, and it was officially opened on July 30, 2004.
[edit] Helliniko Indoor Arena
The Indoor arena is an arena adjacent to the Fencing Hall. It hosted the Basketball preliminary matches and the Handball finals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The facility seats 15,000 [1] spectators for basketball, although only 10,700 seats were made publicly available during the Olympics - and seats 13,500 fans for handball - though only 10,300 seats were made publicly available during the games. The facility was completed on May 31, 2004 and officially opened on July 30, 2004.
During the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games, the Indoor Arena was the venue for Wheelchair rugby. It is currently the home arena of the basketball club Panionios BC and it hosts the finals matches of the Greek Basketball Cup. The basketball club Panellinios also plays European cup home games at the arena.
[edit] Fencing Hall
The fencing Hall is an arena adjacent to the Indoor Arena. It hosted the Fencing matches at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The facility seats 3,800 for the preliminary matches and 5,000 for the final matches. The facility was officially opened on July 30, 2004.
During the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games, the Fencing Hall was the venue for Wheelchair fencing.
[edit] Post-Olympics Development
The table below lists the current status and usage of the Helliniko Olympic Complex facilities:
| Facility | Olympics Use | Current/Proposed Use |
|---|---|---|
| Hellinikon Basketball Stadium | Basketball, Handball | Home court for Panellinios BC and Panionios BC (basketball)[2], Conventions and trade shows[3] |
| Hellinikon Canoe/Kayak Slalom Centre | Canoe/Kayak | Turned over to a private consortium (J&P AVAX, GEP, Corfu Waterparks and BIOTER), plans to convert it to a water park[4][5] |
| Hellinikon Olympic Hockey Centre | Field Hockey | Mini-football, will be part of new Hellinikon metropolitan park complex[6] |
| Hellinikon Baseball Stadium | Baseball | Converted to football pitch, home field of Ethnikos Piraeus FC (Football; Greek second division)[7][8] |
| Hellinikon Softball Stadium | Softball | Concerts[6] |
There are plans to convert much of the former Ellinikon airport site to a metropolitan park, that would include the above facilities.[4][9]
[edit] External links
- Helliniko Indoor Arena @ stadia.gr
Coordinates: 37°53′40″N 23°43′48″E / 37.89444°N 23.73°E
[edit] References
- ^ Worldstadiums.com basketball seating capacity.
- ^ http://www.panioniosbc.gr/index.asp?a_id=90
- ^ [1]
- ^ a b http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100006_03/08/2007_86425
- ^ etipos/
- ^ a b [2]
- ^ http://www.sport.gr/default.asp?pid=96&scid=264&cid=2216
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnikos_Piraeus
- ^ http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=4313651&maindocimg=4312243&service=10
