100 Days To Go : World Sailing

One hundred days before the 2004 Olympic Games to be held in Athens, the President of the International Olympic Committee, Dr Jacques ROGGE, and the President of ATHOC Mrs Gianna ANGELOPOULOS-DASKALAKI, made the following statements.

Dr. Jacques ROGGE, President of the International Olympic Committee:

"In just one hundred days' time, Greece will have the opportunity to demonstrate its legendary hospitality, known as filoxenia, when Athens welcomes the world for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games.

As we enter the final stretch together, most of the preparations are already complete. More work remains, however, and we are continuing our close cooperation with the ATHENS 2004 Organising Committee and the Greek government, to ensure that everything needed for the Games to succeed is in place.

All the reports I receive indicate just how fast and how hard Greece is working to complete preparations--not only for the Games--but for improvements to the country's cultural, urban and transport infrastructure that will continue to serve the generations to come.

In the coming days, the IOC's Coordination Commission and the IOC's Athletes Commission will be visiting Athens to take a closer look at the venues where the world's best sportsmen and women will compete this summer. I look forward to hearing more news from them on how much is being accomplished in a short time, just as I look forward to standing alongside my Greek friends and colleagues as the athletes enter the Olympic Stadium, only one hundred days from now".

Gianna ANGELOPOULOS-DASKALAKI, President of ATHENS 2004:

"In one hundred days, the world's most skilful athletes will assemble in Greece for the historic homecoming of the Olympic Games - and we will be ready to welcome them. Athens will be great for the athletes, Greece will be great for the Games.

We will offer the world a unique Games on a human scale, focused on the competitors, and the Olympic ideals which they embody and which unite us all: peaceful competition, the pursuit of excellence, and our common humanity.

Today, and for the next 99 days, Athens will be working around the clock to prepare for the Games, testing and putting into place the world's greatest Olympic venues, and the largest, most comprehensive and best-funded security effort in Olympic history. Our state-of-the-art sports venues have been successfully tested during 38 Sport Events. In addition, we will offer athletes and officials the world's most historic venues, as well, including the Stadium in Olympia, home of the ancient Games; the Panathinaiko Stadium, in which the modern Games were reborn; the original route of the Marathon; and a cycling course that travels beneath the Parthenon and past some of Athens' most significant sites.

In placing athletes and their events at the centre of our preparations, Athens has embraced the original spirit and meaning of the Games. This will, we believe, inspire this summer's Olympians to extraordinary performances. Our celebration of the world's greatest athletes and Greece's Olympic tradition will be powerful and compelling, and we look forward to welcoming the world to an extraordinary Olympic Homecoming, in just one hundred days".

100 Days To Go

Athens 2004

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