Click here to print Abandoned, derelict, covered in graffiti and rubbish: What is left of Athens' £9billion Olympic 'glory' By Andrew Malone Last updated at 11:22 PM on 18th July 2008 The security guards were furious. Rushing out from under the shade of an olive tree - one of the few natural things rem aining in an urban wasteland surrounded by steel fences topped with razor wire - the two uniform ed guards m ade it clear that attem pts to glim pse Helliniko, one of Greece's Olym pic 'glories', were strictly forbidden. 'You are not allowed here!' one guard barked, as a car cram m ed with m ore security m en, sum m oned by radio, screeched to a halt in front of m e. 'These Olym pics are closed. For ever! 'Olym pic glories': Gipsies now live in a tent in front of the beach volley venue at the Faliron com plex in Athens 'You m ust not stay here. Go! Now! It's illegal! 'Everything here is illegal!' 'Crim inal' m ight be a better word. 351Like Forlorn: This once proud pool is now dry Four years after an outpouring of national delight, when the Olym pic Gam es returned to their spiritual hom e in the shadow of the Acropolis, the security m en were trying to hide evidence of the m ost scandalous abuse of public m oney in Olym pic history. After the guards had gone, I ducked through a gap in the venue's fence. The reason for their agitation becam e painfully clear. If waste was an Olym pic sport, Greece should be world cham pions. Inside, beneath rusting floodlights, lay devastation - form erly glorious Olym pic stadium s were now derelict, covered in graffiti. This is where m ore than £9 billion was spent to bring the 2004 Gam es 'hom e'. I picked m y way through the detritus - em pty beer cans, food wrappers and other rubbish. In 2004, the sound of thousands of cheering fans from around the world filled the huge space. Now there's an eerie silence, broken only by the sound of tattered EU flags flapping in the wind. It was not supposed to be like this. The benefits of the Athens Olym pics were m eant to last for generations. The Olym pic 'legacy' - the favourite buzzword of London's Olym pic planners - was m eant to be visible to all, transform ing the chaotic Greek capital as if Apollo, the god of harm ony and civilisation, had sm iled on it. That has not happened. Derelict: Graffiti covers a stadium at the Faliron site A staggering 21 out of 22 venues lie abandoned since an event lasting just three weeks was held, and the m agnificent stadium s are now over-run with rubbish and weeds. But the m ost striking 'legacy' has been the huge sum s spent - and wasted - on venues to hold sports with little following in Greece. And yet the m adness does not end there: annual 'm aintenance' of the em pty sites has cost alm ost £500m illion since the event. Four years on, the Greek authorities unconvincingly insist they are still involved in 'active negotiations' to find buyers. For planners of the London 2012 Olym pics,.

1. Click here to print
Abandoned, derelict, covered in graffiti and
rubbish: What is left of Athens' £9billion
Olympic 'glory'
By Andrew Malone
Last updated at 11:22 PM on 18th July 2008
The security guards were furious.
Rushing out from under the shade of an olive tree - one of the
few natural things rem aining in an urban wasteland
surrounded by steel fences topped with razor wire - the two
uniform ed guards m ade it clear that attem pts to glim pse
Helliniko, one of Greece's Olym pic 'glories', were strictly
forbidden.
'You are not allowed here!' one guard barked, as a car cram m
ed with m ore security m en, sum m oned by radio, screeched to
a halt in front of m e.
'These Olym pics are closed. For ever!
'Olym pic glories': Gipsies now live in a tent in front of the
beach volley venue at the Faliron com plex in Athens
'You m ust not stay here. Go! Now! It's illegal! 'Everything here
is illegal!'
'Crim inal' m ight be a better word.

2. 351Like
Forlorn: This once proud pool is now dry
Four years after an outpouring of national delight, when the
Olym pic Gam es returned to their spiritual hom e in the shadow
of
the Acropolis, the security m en were trying to hide evidence of
the m ost scandalous abuse of public m oney in Olym pic
history.
After the guards had gone, I ducked through a gap in the venue's
fence.
The reason for their agitation becam e painfully clear.
If waste was an Olym pic sport, Greece should be world cham
pions.
Inside, beneath rusting floodlights, lay devastation - form erly
glorious Olym pic stadium s were now derelict, covered in
graffiti.
This is where m ore than £9 billion was spent to bring the 2004
Gam es 'hom e'.
I picked m y way through the detritus - em pty beer cans, food
wrappers and other rubbish.
In 2004, the sound of thousands of cheering fans from around
the world filled the huge space.
Now there's an eerie silence, broken only by the sound of

3. tattered EU flags flapping in the wind.
It was not supposed to be like this. The benefits of the Athens
Olym pics were m eant to last for generations.
The Olym pic 'legacy' - the favourite buzzword of London's
Olym pic planners - was m eant to be visible to all, transform
ing the
chaotic Greek capital as if Apollo, the god of harm ony and
civilisation, had sm iled on it.
That has not happened.
Derelict: Graffiti covers a stadium at the Faliron site
A staggering 21 out of 22 venues lie abandoned since an event
lasting just three weeks was held, and the m agnificent
stadium s are now over-run with rubbish and weeds.
But the m ost striking 'legacy' has been the huge sum s spent -
and wasted - on venues to hold sports with little following in
Greece.
And yet the m adness does not end there: annual 'm aintenance'
of the em pty sites has cost alm ost £500m illion since the
event.
Four years on, the Greek authorities unconvincingly insist they
are still involved in 'active negotiations' to find buyers.
For planners of the London 2012 Olym pics, it is a cautionary
tale. The fear is that London m ay repeat the m istakes of
Athens.

4. When the British capital was awarded the Gam es in 2005, we
were prom ised they would regenerate the East End, one of
the country's m ost econom ically-deprived areas.
But as the projected cost of the London Olym pics spirals out of
control, these vows are looking decidedly hollow.
Many experts now claim the only beneficiary of 2012 will be
big business.
Meanwhile, they argue, the area's poorer com m unities, whose
opinions have largely been ignored, will be tram pled upon
and left with little m ore than deserted, rubbish-strewn stadium
s.
Unless urgent action is taken to return the focus to the people
the Gam es are supposed to help long-term , London could be
faced with its own Greek tragedy.
Abandoned: The w alkw ay to the m ain Heliniko Olym pic com
plex is choked w ith rubbish four years after it hosted the
gam es
Back in Athens, the scene at Helliniko, on the outskirts, is all
that rem ains of a clum sy desire to spur interest in obscure
sports such as kayaking, handball and baseball am ong football-
m ad Greeks.
None took off - even when officials tried to generate interest by
using the baseball stadium for football.
They soon discovered the triangular pitches of the Am erican
sport were not suited to a gam e played on rectangular grass

5. fields.
After trying to encourage locals to use the facilities, the Athens
authorities appear to have given up.
A once stunning bridge across the m otorway to take thousands
from the yachting com plex to the baseball stadium , has
been closed, the stairs piled high with waste concrete from
nearby building sites.
Spiralling walkways, constructed to allow wheelchair users to
travel between venues, are barricaded, their lights sm ashed.
Inside, plastic bags and bottles m ove through em pty
boulevards.
In parks designed to allow fam ilies to play, benches have been
toppled and the paths are barred by guards.
Three m iles north, in the Faliron com plex - for the tae kwon
do com petitions (it's a m artial art, in case you were
wondering)
and beach volleyball - gipsy squatter cam ps have sprung up.
Tents have been erected on grounds that, before the Olym pics,
were playing fields for children.
And rubbish is everywhere. Fountains are broken and rusting.
Pools of water form from broken drains.
At the Olym pic Village, six m iles from the city centre - where
72,000 invited dignitaries, including Tony and Cherie Blair and
form er U.S. President George Bush Snr and his wife Barbara,
watched the spectacular opening cerem ony - the scale of the
extravagance is also a sight to behold.

6. While concerts and football m atches have been held here since
2004, the m agnificent new stadium is in a sorry state.
Apart from a group of security guards, just a few athletes were
training inside the pool.
Nothing else m oved, except rubbish in the wind.
A 20,000-seat tennis stadium lies em pty. So does the cycling
stadium . And the Olym pic diving area. And the hockey
facilities.
The list goes on.
These em pty stadium s represent a nation so caught up in the
desire to prove it was 'm odern' that the true cost of such
Olym pian vanity was overlooked.
Indeed, m any of these now decrepit facilities were com pleted
just days before the opening cerem ony.
It seem s the thirst of Greek politicians for glory by association
- backed by billions of pounds in European funding (your
m oney and m ine) - over-rode antiquated notions, such as
whether this was value for m oney and how it would im prove
the
lives of Greeks in the future.
Cash was spent with abandon, and the price is still being paid.
While the country's budget has plunged into the red by m ore
than six per cent - som e say the borrowing costs of the event
have reached £35 billion - the Olym pic legacy dom inates
political life in Athens.

7. 'We didn't find a plan for the post-Olym pics developm ent of
the venues,' says Fani Palli-Petralia, a New Dem ocracy
politician.
'When a city gets the Gam es, it should m ake a business plan
for big changes and then decide what the country needs for
the day after the Olym pics. This did not happen.'
When Britain's 2012 bid was chosen - with London's bid beating
Paris - com m entators and politicians rightly applauded the
fact that Britain would stage these ancient Gam es for the third
tim e in the country's history.
It was a chance to show Britain at its best, building what
politicians pledged would be a legacy lasting m any years after
the
final race.
Am id predictions that London would be transform ed, Tony
Blair hailed the victory as a 'm om entous' day for the capital.
Like Athens, London has been dogged by traffic gridlock for
years.
There were claim s the International Olym pic Com m ittee
would dem and im provem ents to the capital's public transport
system , ending m isery for m illions, and encouraging tourists.
Yet, four years before the first starting pistol has been fired for
London 2012, there are echoes of Athens.
While Athenians com plain they were shunted from their hom
es to m ake way for Olym pic developm ents in deprived areas -
with soaring property prices and rising rents forcing others out
after the events - sim ilar com plaints em anate throughout
East London.

8. Indeed, experts predict London 2012 is doom ed to fail.
'The Gam es have been presented by the Governm ent and the
Olym pic delivery bodies as a once-in-a-lifetim e opportunity to
help regenerate one of the UK's m ost econom ically
disadvantaged areas,' says the New Econom ics Foundation.
But, the think-tank adds, it seem s that big business will be the
m ain beneficiaries, with little m oney trickling down to poor
com m unities.
London 2012 m ay be going in the sam e direction as previous
Gam es in its failure to live up to regeneration prom ises.
While m uch of the funding for the Athens Gam es cam e from
Brussels, the London Olym pics will be funded prim arily by the
British taxpayer, with a sm aller proportion from private
business.
Indeed, fears have recently been voiced that the £9.3billion
budget has already spiralled to four tim es the original estim
ate.
Earlier this m onth, aware of the perils underscored by the
Athens scandal - not to m ention the Millennium Dom e fiasco
and
the year-long delays in building a new Wem bley football
stadium - the organisers of the London Olym pics changed the
venue for som e sporting events.
'Minority interest' sports such as fencing, table tennis and
wheelchair basketball will now be played at the existing ExCel
centre in London's Docklands, while sports such as handball
will share space at the planned 12,000-seat basketball
stadium .

9. In addition, an 80,000-seat stadium for the Olym pics will be
dism antled and reduced to a capacity of 25,000.
Lord Coe, the form er Olym pic athlete and chairm an of
London 2012, explained: 'We have always said that our
intention was
to build truly sustainable venues which will provide a strong
elite and com m unity legacy for sport for generations to com e,
long after the final race has been run in 2012.
'These sm all changes to our tem porary venue locations. . . are
designed to m axim ise the sporting legacy we leave behind,
as well as to optim ise the experience for athletes and
spectators.
'We want to build only what can be used to m axim um effect
after the Gam es.'
Back in Athens not all has been lost.
As a sweetener for joining the EU, m ore than £20billion was
pum ped into creating the city's m etro system .
Air conditioned and gloriously efficient, gridlock and pollution
have been cut.
In London, by contrast, ' enhancem ents' to Tube lines - m any
given the green light, including the East London line extension
- is all that is planned to coincide with the 2012 Gam es.
While there are also m uch-lauded ideas to introduce high-speed
Olym pic 'Javelin' trains, m aking journeys from St Pancras

10. to East London in just six m inutes, these will operate only for
the three weeks of the Olym pics, before chaos reigns again on
the roads.
Only tim e will tell whether our own planners can avoid the
lessons of Athens' Greek tragedy of em pty stadium s we are all
still
paying for.
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Sheet1Question 1 of 10 1.0 PointsUsing the company cost of
capital to evaluate a project is:I) Always correctII) Always
incorrectIII) Correct for projects that are about as risky as the
average of the firm's other assetsA. I onlyB. II onlyC. III
onlyD. I and III onlyQuestion 2 of 101.0 PointsWhich of the
following type of projects has average risk?A. Speculation
venturesB. New productsC. Expansion of existing businessD.
Cost improvementQuestion 3 of 10 1.0 PointsThe market value
of Cable Company's equity is $60 million, and the market value
of its risk-free debt is $40 million. If the required rate of return
on the equity is 15% and that on the debt is 5%, calculate the
company's cost of capital. (Assume no taxes.)A. 15%B. 10%C.
11%D. None of the aboveQuestion 4 of 101.0 PointsThe hurdle
rate for capital budgeting decisions is:A. The cost of capitalB.
The cost of debtC. The cost of equityD. All of the
aboveQuestion 5 of 101.0 PointsThe market value of XYZ
Corporation's common stock is 40 million and the market value
of the risk-free debt is 60 million. The beta of the company's
common stock is 0.8, and the expected market risk premium is
10%. If the Treasury bill rate is 6%, what is the firm's cost of
capital? (Assume no taxes.)A. 9.2%B. 14%C. 8.1%D. None of
the aboveQuestion 6 of 101.0 PointsOn a graph with common
stock returns on the Y- axis and market returns on the X-axis,
the slope of the regression line represents the:A. AlphaB.
BetaC. R-squaredD. Adjusted betaQuestion 7 of 101.0
PointsGenerally, postaudits are conducted for large projects:A.
shortly after the completion of the projectB. after several years
after the completion of the projectC. shortly after the project
has begun to operateD. well before the start of the
projectQuestion 8 of 101.0 PointsYou are given the following

15. data for year-1. Revenue = $43; Total costs = $30;
Depreciation = $3; Tax rate = 30%. Calculate the operating
cash flow for the project for year-1.A. $7B. $10C. $13D. None
of the aboveQuestion 9 of 101.0 PointsThe following are
drawbacks of sensitivity analysis except:A. it provides
ambiguous results.B. underlying variables are likely to be
interrelated.C. it provides additional information about the
project that is useful.D. all of the above statements are
drawbacks of sensitivity analysis.Question 10 of 101.0
PointsThe accounting break-even point occurs when:A. the total
revenue line cuts the fixed cost lineB. the present value of
inflows line cuts the present value of outflows lineC. the total
revenue line cuts the total cost lineD. none of the above
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