Less than 100 days before the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics, the Mayor of Athens, Mrs Dora Bakoyiannis, delivered a speech at an event hosted by the Western Policy Center, regarding the upcoming Olympic Games of Athens and the final preparations of Greece and of the City of Athens to host the biggest sporting event on the globe. Following is the text of her speech:
Allow me to start by saying two words for Ronald Reagan. Two words described him. The one is a statesman. The other a man. Ronald Reagan changed the world without firing a shot, as Margaret Thatcher so rightly puts it. He was noncollectivist, steady, friendly but firm. On behalf of the Athenian citizens, let me offer his family and the American people our deepest condolences.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear numbers of the press, dear friends, I will only make a brief introductory statement, because with the Olympic Games just nine weeks away, I am sure you are all anxious to raise questions on various pressing issues. Issues, such as the final preparations for the sports venues, and related facilities, security, the cost of staging the largest organized event in the world by the smallest ever country in modern times.
However, in addition to your questions as Mayor of Athens, I would like to address the issue of recent developments in the Greek capital, and particularly the major changes that are taking place with the aim of making the city a more attractive, user-friendly, effective, functional, and even more entertaining for its inhabitants and visitors, and all this not only for but also after the games.
The Olympic Games will come and go, but the City of Athens will remain just as it has remained for 3,000 years, a fact which has earned it the twin titles of Europe's most ancient city, and the historic capital of Europe. Therefore, our city administration is interested not only in helping stage successful Olympic Games, but in the day after, in the so-called post-Olympic period. In the legacy of the games, and the way the city develops in the decades to come.
As you all know, Greece in general, and Athens in particular, has a number of unique historic and cultural advantages in staging the Olympics. After all, the games originated in Greece near 2,800 years ago, and were then revived again in Athens in 1896. As a result, visitors to Greece can still see the original ancient stadium of ancient Olympia, where the Olympics were first organized in 1776 B.C. One event at this year's games, the man and woman shot put, will actually be staged in the awe-inspiring setting, the difference from 2,700 years ago is that women will take part this time.
Similarly, other events at the Athens Olympics will take place in and around locations which have enormous symbolic value for the development of Western Civilization. I'm referring, for example, to the monuments that top the 2,500-year-old Acropolis, around the base of which the Olympic cycling race will take place. Similarly, to the second century B.C. Parthenon Stadium, which was fully restored and remodeled for the revival of the modern games in 1896, for the archery events, and the dramatic finish to the marathon race will take place.
Thirdly, I'm referring to the historic marathon race itself, which will be contested over the original 26-mile course that was first run in 490 B.C. after the battle of Marathon, a battle that staged Athenian democracy and civilization, and subsequently that of the Western World.
Speaking of the Marathon struggle, and despite the considerable and often unfair criticism we have received from sections of the international media, I'm here today to honestly argue that Greece has already broken several Olympic records and should, therefore, be awarded several Gold Medals even before the start of the games. Specifically, Greece is the smallest country ever in modern times to stage the Olympic Games, and it is staging the largest ever Olympic Games. We will host a record number of 202 countries, 11,000 athletes, 21,000 journalists and technical assistants, in all these cases the numbers surpassing those of Sydney and Atlanta.
We are often compared to Finland, another small country that hosted the games in 1952, but remember that those games hosted only 64 countries, and 2,500 athletes, one-quarter of today's figures in Athens. They are the most costly games ever, the budget coming up to an estimated $8.5 billion when you add the cost to the long-term infrastructure projects that were put in place.
On security, we are spending $1.2 billion, four times as much as Sydney, and over five times more than Atlanta spent in 1996. We are deploying 70,000 police and military security personnel, well-trained, again four times more than Sydney. We have a record number of volunteers from Greece and from around the world, though we were criticized originally for not having adequate volunteer interest or international support. Well, the volunteer applications reached the figure of 160,000, as compared to 75,000 who volunteered in Sydney and 78,000 who volunteered in Atlanta.
Ladies and gentlemen, in this particular Marathon race of preparations, Greece has already broken some of the biggest Olympic records, and we hope we will break many more in the games that will take place in two months. The text distributed to you today along with other useful media material outlines the preparations our capital has made so far, and the details that remain to be finalized. I'm sure you will find them both valuable and surprisingly objective, for it not only lists major programs already completed, but also the delays and the compromises that had to be made compared to some of the initial plans.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a practical politician I know only too well the difference between the vision and the realities of concrete policies. We are certainly not perfect, but we are confident that we have done a great job. Confident that we will surprise the world, and stage successful and safe Olympic Games. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here today.
I would like to thank the Western Policy Center for its hospitality, and I would like to assure you that Athens is a city which is completely transformed due to the games. Athens, which is a multi-cultural city today, allow me to present to you Mrs. Yvette Chavez (?), who is sitting in our counsel, and who is the first African-American who has been voted by the Greeks, and who will represent Athens during the torch arrival, torch relay in Los Angeles and New York. Ladies and gentlemen, Greece and Athens believe that we will make wonderful gains. We believe that our value system, democracy, human rights, human respect, and Olympic tools will be very well represented in Athens during these games, games to which I invite you all to come over, and you will have a wonderful time.
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