Helliniko Olympic Complex

The Helliniko Olympic Complex is situated at Ellinikon on the east coast of Greece south of Athens, approximately 16 kilometres from the Olympic Village. It was built on the site of the former Ellinikon International Airport for the staging of the 2004 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Paralympics. It consists of 5 separate venues.

Olympic Canoe/Kayak Slalom Centre

Main article: Helliniko Olympic Canoe/Kayak Slalom Centre

Olympic Hockey Centre

Main article: Helliniko Olympic Hockey Centre

Olympic Baseball Centre

Main article: Elliniko Stadium

The Olympic Baseball Centre in Athens consists of two Baseball stadiums. It was the site of the Baseball games at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The facility consists of two fields. The larger stadium seats 8,700 fans-though only 6,700 seats were made publicly available during the Olympics - and the smaller stadium seats 4,000 spectators- though only 3,300 seats were made publicly available during the Games. The facility had to be constructed with significant foreign help in the design, as there were only a handful of dusty baseball diamonds in the whole of Greece before the 2004 Olympics were awarded to Athens in 1997. Construction on the facility was completed on February 27, 2004, and it was officially opened on August 12, 2004, a day before the Opening Ceremonies.

During the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games, the Olympic Baseball Centre was the venue for Archery.

Olympic Softball Stadium

Main article: Helliniko Olympic Softball Stadium

Helliniko Indoor Arena

Interior of the arena during the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Exterior of the Helliniko Indoor Arena.

Main article: Helliniko Olympic Arena

The Indoor arena is an arena adjacent to the Fencing Hall. It hosted the Basketball preliminary matches and the Handball finals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The facility seats 15,000 ^[1] spectators for basketball, although only 10,700 seats were made publicly available during the Olympics - and seats 13,500 fans for handball - though only 10,300 seats were made publicly available during the games. The facility was completed on May 31, 2004 and officially opened on July 30, 2004.

During the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games, the Indoor Arena was the venue for Wheelchair rugby. It is currently the home arena of the basketball club Panionios BC and it hosts the finals matches of the Greek Basketball Cup. The basketball club Panellinios BC also plays European cup home games at the arena.

Fencing Hall

Main article: Helliniko Fencing Hall

Post-Olympics Development

The table below lists the current status and usage of the Helliniko Olympic Complex facilities:

Facility	Olympics Use	Current/Proposed Use
Hellinikon Basketball Stadium	Basketball, Handball	Home court for Panellinios BC and Panionios BC (basketball).,[2] Conventions and trade shows[3] Also part of events hall with fencing hall.
Helliniko Olympic Canoe/Kayak Slalom Centre	Canoe/Kayak	Turned over to a private consortium (J&P AVAX, GEP, Corfu Waterparks and BIOTER), plans to convert it to a water park[4][5]
Helliniko Fencing Hall	Fencing	Part of Events hall with the basketball stadium.[6]
Helliniko Olympic Hockey Centre	Field Hockey	Mini-football, will be part of new Hellinikon metropolitan park complex[7]
Hellinikon Baseball Stadium	Baseball	Converted to football pitch, home field of Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. (Football; Greek second division)[8][9]
Helliniko Olympic Softball Stadium	Softball	Concerts[7]

There are plans to convert much of the former Ellinikon airport site to a metropolitan park, that would include the above facilities.^[4][10]

External links

• Helliniko Indoor Arena @ stadia.gr

Coordinates: 37°53′40″N 23°43′48″E / 37.89444°N 23.73°E / 37.89444; 23.73

References

1. ^ Worldstadiums.com basketball seating capacity.
2. ^ http://www.panioniosbc.gr/index.asp?a_id=90
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ ^{a b} http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100006_03/08/2007_86425
5. ^ etipos/
6. ^ Olympicproperties.gr profile. (English) & (Greek)
7. ^ ^{a b} [2]
8. ^ http://www.sport.gr/default.asp?pid=96&scid=264&cid=2216
9. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnikos_Piraeus
10. ^ http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=4313651&maindocimg=4312243&service=10

• 2004 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 2. pp. 269, 291, 318, 353, 395.