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CNN Live At Daybreak

Countdown Begins For Summer Games in Athens in 2004

Aired February 25, 2002 - 05:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And it's a wrap in Salt Lake City. A fireworks display marked last night's closing ceremony for the Winter Games. And, you know, the 2004 Olympic Summer Games will return to the country that gave birth to the Olympics, in Greece.

Joining me by phone from Athens with some insights on how Greece is getting ready is journalist Anthee Carassave -- good morning.

ANTHEE CARASSAVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Well, the end of the Salt Lake City Games mark, in effect, the start of the countdown to the Athens Summer Games in just over two year's time. There are literally 900 days left to go and it is including becoming apparent that many of the facilities and works needed to mount this event here will not be ready unless preparations here pick up speed.

International Olympics officials are repeatedly warning Athens that it can no longer and ill afford any more delays. While the prospect of changing the venue is not an option at this point, IOC officials say the quality of the 2004 Summer Games are at stake. That means transportation, accommodations, venue construction, traffic and security concerns will make or break the success of the Athens Games.

To give you an idea, for example, just 32 kilometers of 207 kilometers of new roads to be built have only been completed. Athens' organizers are also still searching for accommodations for thousands of IOC members. The media village to house 17,000 world journalists is still in its conceptual phase and some venues like the canoe slalom course have yet to be constructed because, for example, that venue is still being used as a landing field for private aircraft.

What's at the heart of these problems? A lot of political infighting, bickering, and a massive tug of war between the Athens organizing committee and the socialist government here responsible for building a lot of these infrastructure projects -- Carol. COSTELLO: Anthee, that brings up the question of security, because a lot of people are worried that security won't be tight enough in Athens. What about that?

CARASSAVE: Well, security is undoubtedly the most important issue. It's the Achilles' heel, if I can use a Greek analogy for the Athens Games here. And this because Greece is home to Europe's deadliest and most elusive terrorist organization, 17 November, which usually targets Americans and Western interests.

It's also because Greece and its endless miles of porous borders are very difficult to shield from other terror groups like radical Islamists and foreign alumnis, as they are called, operating within close proximity of Greece. Six nations, including the United States, Britain and Israel, however, are in the process of mapping out a $600 million plan to shield the Games and its athletes here in 2004 and we understand that project entails a robust exchange of intelligence information in tracking down potential terrorist suspects.

It remains, however, to be seen what Washington's ultimate decision will be in sending its athletes abroad for the first time after the September attacks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I was just going to ask you that. If everything is not ready, might some countries just pull out of the Athens Games?

CARASSAVE: Well, that, of course, remains to be seen. We haven't heard any issue of boycotts. We, of course, IOC officials say that that is a notion that is, belongs to the past. It will come down, however, to the athletes themselves, whether they take on the responsibility to come and participate at their own will. But again, we'll be hearing a lot more on that front and what measures the American athletes will be taking before coming here to participate in the games -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, good enough.

Anthee Carassave, thanks for joining us this morning from Greece.

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