ATHENS, 26 August 2003 — Athens 2004 Olympics chief Gianna Angelopoulos said yesterday the Games will be safe despite a recent barrage of articles in international media questioning the event’s security plans.
“We are challenging anyone to come to Greece and see how safe a country it is,” Angelopoulos told the Greek daily Ta Nea. “You can see the serious work being done and compare it to other countries in the world.”
Organizers have drafted the biggest security plan in Olympic history worth $600 million.
Close to 50,000 security personnel, three times as many as in Sydney in 2000, including police, special forces and the military, will be involved in sealing off the country from any potential threat during next year’s Games.
Organizers (ATHOC) have also formed an inter-nations security group to advise on the safety of the Games which includes the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Australia, Spain and Israel.
But some international media, citing unnamed sources within ATHOC, have claimed Athens’s security arrangements were “patchy.”
Security has been the Games’ top priority since the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes.
She said that her organization had learned from its mistakes in hosting seven pre-Olympic test events. “We’ve learned from our mistakes. We don’t live in the clouds,” Angelopoulos-Daskalaki said.
