ATHENS, 21 January 2004 — Athens Olympics organizers said yesterday that competing nations were stepping up their search for summer acclimatization training camps.
Officials revealed that more than 20 Olympic committees were scouring the country to locate favorable sites for the Aug. 13-29 Games with some even looking at options in nearby Bulgaria and Cyprus who share a similar climate.
Heat could be one of the biggest factors for athletes with summer temperatures peaking in Greece around the 100 degrees Fahrenheit in July before cooling slightly in mid-August. “There are over 20 National Olympic Committees that have contacted us for information to book training centers in Greece,” one official told Reuters.
Many teams are looking to book aquatic centers for their swimming squads where acclimatization is as important as for marathon runners.
Canada, Japan, Germany, Britain and Italy have all inquired about booking the Patras swimming center in western Greece, about a two-hour drive from Athens, the official said. Yacht clubs in Athens’ sister city of Piraeus will play host to numerous sailing teams, including Belgium, Canada and Japan. With most of Greece’s big stadiums and training complexes under construction until just before the Games, some squads are turning to private gymnasiums and schools in their search for suitable facilities.
One nation that has enjoyed a head start is the 12-person team from Afghanistan that is returning to the Olympic fold after an eight-year absence.
The war-shattered country has been offered facilities on the island of Lesbos free of charge. “The offer is a symbolic gesture toward a country that has witnessed great suffering and which now is returning to the Olympic Games,” said an official at the Aegean ministry, which supervises Greek islands in the area. Lesbos, a few miles off the Turkish coast, is where hundreds of Afghans fleeing conflicts in their country have annually landed illegally on their way to western Europe.
Authorities have in recent years set up shelters there to accommodate the increased number of refugees from Afghanistan and other world trouble spots. “When Afghans found out that their team would be coming in the summer they were ecstatic,” a ministry official said. “They are already planning how to welcome them.”
Afghanistan is one of several countries, including Iraq and East Timor to have been welcomed to the Olympic fold ahead of the 2004 Games. The island of Lesbos, a few miles off the Turkish coast, is where hundreds of Afghans fleeing conflicts in their country have annually long landed illegally on their way to western Europe.
Authorities have in recent years set up shelters on Lesbos to accommodate the increased number of refugees from Afghanistan and other world trouble spots.
