Monday, May 7th, 2001 The Pierre Hotel, New York City
	Mrs. Gianna Angelopoulos Daskalaki President, ATHOC Keynote speech

Thank you, Dr. Lavidas, for that cordial introduction. Let me also thank our friends at Capital Link and, of course, Nicolas Bornozis, for creating such a timely and wonderful event.

I am very happy to be here today to discuss the promise of the Athens 2004 Olympics. The Olympics are one of the very few events in the world that are really universal; watched and enjoyed by every culture, on every continent, with an audience more than 3 billion strong. The Olympic Games are the most democratic and most universally understood institution on Earth.

And in fewer than twelve-hundred days, they are coming home.

Yes, what was born in Greece and revitalized in Athens - the Olympic Games - return home for the first time in over a century.

We, in Greece, have big plans for the 2004 Summer Olympics, and we want you to be a part of them. We want your talent. We want your expertise. And we want your enthusiasm. This is a great business opportunity, but our work is about something far greater and more important than commerce alone.

For the Greek people, this is an opportunity to tell the world the story of our new Greece -- a confident, contemporary country.

For the Greek nation, this will be the culmination of the greatest period of new investment, new construction and new planning in generations.

For the modern Olympics, this is an occasion to reclaim its spirit and soul by coming home to its heritage.

All of us have a stake in success. All of us have a responsibility to make the Games a success. All of us have something special to contribute. All of us have something unique to gain.

This afternoon, I want to tell you in plain and practical terms where things stand with our Olympics - the scope of our mission, the state of our preparations, and the scale of our needs in the months and years ahead. Much needs to be done. Our responsibilities are enormous, but we have every confidence that Greece will meet the expectations of the world for a great Olympic games. Working together, we must and we will do amazing things.

The Scope of Our Mission

Let's talk for a moment about the scope of our mission.

The practical difficulty of putting on an Olympics is astounding. Imagine staging the Super Bowl seventeen days in a row, but for 28 separate sports federations representing every event certified for the Olympics.

We will be transporting 17,000 athletes and their aides, and serving 50,000 meals each day in the Olympic Village. We will be providing accommodations and serving meals to 20,000 journalists from 200 countries. We will set aside beds in 127 individual hotels, securing nearly 12,000 beds for the Olympic family alone. Five point five million tickets will be distributed to hundreds of thousands of spectators. We must attract, train, and manage 60,000 volunteers, and arrange their uniforms, food and transportation on a daily basis.

We will operate 60 Olympic training facilities. Overall, there are 138 different works and projects being developed - sports stadia, the Olympic village, the media village, major facilities for transport and administration - requiring a total staff of 110,000 for management.

On one day, Super Sunday (mark it in your diaries), August 22, 2004, we will move athletes, spectators and staff for events that include: the track and field finals, tennis, gymnastics, water polo, diving, synchronized swimming, volley ball, beach volley ball, handball, boxing, basketball, baseball, softball, hockey, horse riding, shooting, weight lifting, wrestling, ping pong, and the marathon.

And in just three years, we will be making certain that anyone holding tickets for those events will make it on time for the seats they ordered, to cheer on the athletes they support, in an atmosphere that makes them feel safe and secure. And they will have fun.

It's an enormous commitment, organizational and financial. It will not be easy, but the effort is worthwhile and the results, we believe, will be extraordinary.

The State of Our Preparations

You may be asking yourselves: can they do it? Can Greece successfully stage these Olympic Games?

This is my answer. I know my country has the capacity and the desire to succeed in this historically important mission.

We can be candid. The organization of our Games did have a slow beginning. And at this moment, we cannot say that all of our problems are solved, or that everything is working smoothly.

But we have accomplished a great deal. We are back on track. And we are gaining speed. Listen to these facts and judge for yourselves.

We have just opened our new airport, the most modern in Europe. We have opened three new Metro lines with the capacity to serve 450,000 passengers a day. Two more lines will be opened by 2004. Already, 800,000 passengers use our Metro every day.

On accommodations, we signed last year an important agreement with the Hotel Association. We have signed individual agreements with 63% of hotels and 98% of five star hotels, and we have submitted 70 letters of intent to the Greek National Tourist office to secure 15,000 hotel beds.

On athletics, we have good cooperation with all 28 Sports Federations, received approvals for all venue locations, and have 17 competition managers working fulltime.

On facilities, we already have 72% of our sports facilities built. On May 2nd, we awarded tenders to four consortiums for the construction of the residential zone of the Olympic village.

On the Paralympics, we have completed our negotiations and, for the very first time, the handicapped athletes will not be paying for their participation.

On broadcasting, we have granted television rights to the ISB company and opened the OBO offices in Athens last week.

On sponsorships, we have signed four national sponsors in telecommunications, banking, brewery, and dairy products breaking all previous Olympic sponsorship records - we have reached 84% of our sponsorship goals with only 10% of our projected sponsors. And we will meet our revenue targets with fewer than half the sponsors of Sydney, with fewer than one-fifth the sponsors of Atlanta, giving us a less commercial but more commemorative games.

We've projected a budget of $1.7 billion to stage the Games. With television rights, ticket sales, the tasteful merchandizing of products, and a grant from the Greek State, our Games will be funded and our budget will be balanced.

On security, we have signed security agreements with the US government, and with thirty-six other nations as well. We have signed a memorandum of understanding with our Ministry of Defense, and the Greek State has committed USD 600 million in capital improvements for security. After taking these steps, the American Secretary of State, General Powell, has acknowledged our progress on security.

From sports to security, from hotels to merchandizing, we are making progress - but we cannot let up now.

Last week in Athens, we were visited by the "CoCom," the International Olympic Committee's Coordinating Commission; the coach and partner that guides the host cities as they make progress toward hosting their games.

Dr. Jacque Rogge, the IOC's Chief Coordinator for the Games, had this to say about what we have accomplished in just the last year:

"[Quote] We have seen major progress, a new dynamism in the organizing committee, a sense of urgency on the side of government…The organizational effort of Greece for the Olympic Games of 2004 is on the right path…If they continue at this pace we will have a delivery without any problem. (But) they cannot afford to slow down and/or to have delays for whatever cause of a serious nature. It's a coach shouting to the athlete: 'Keep the speed'."

Dr. Rogge is right. Much more needs to be done. And that is where you can play a decisive and profitable role.

The Scale of Our Needs

My organization - ATHOC - is organizing the Olympic Games. We oversee the preparation and the management of the Games. Our budget is $1.7 billion. The government is paying for construction projects; that more than doubles the combined total. While the Olympics are about athletes, training, emotion and effort, organizing the Olympics is about planning, investing, building, and making products and providing services.

What specifically can you do? There are many ways to participate.

Many businesses represented here are already familiar with the Greek market; many of you sell to our consumers. Olympic sponsorship is a tremendous opportunity. There are more than thirty categories of sponsorship available. These are opportunities for you to build awareness and extend your reach in the Greek market. You can also sponsor signature events as part of our Cultural Olympiad.

There are also Olympic licensing opportunities. Fifteen categories will be up for tender for products to be sold worldwide starting next year.

Next there is the provision of products and services for the Games themselves.

Think of the Olympic Village; it is a vast construction project. But we must also provide furniture, electronic equipment, linen, motor vehicles, entertainment equipment, and cleaning services. That is a twenty five million dollar category.

Think of the opening ceremonies, and especially think of a glorious display of Greek culture. The production costs are budgeted at thirty-five million dollars. Another twenty-five million is set aside for carpets, ribbons, uniforms, banners, flags, flowers and fireworks, plus a great deal more.

Think of the athletes, and the world records yet to be broken. But they cannot compete on empty stomachs. Between the costs for kitchen equipment and an estimated 10 million meals, this category is worth one hundred twenty million dollars.

There are procurements planned for thirty categories of expenditures. Greek enterprises will play their part, and so can you.

Information on these categories and on the rules governing your participation will be made available to you. Mr. Marton Simitsek, our Executive Director, and Mr. George Bolos, our general manager for marketing, will be here later this afternoon to talk in greater detail about these opportunities. You can also consult our web site, www.athens.olympic.org, for further information on tenders and the procurement rules.

My message today is, I hope, simple and clear. Preparations for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games are proceeding energetically and positively. The International Olympic Committee is our partner in this endeavor. We are both 'back on track,' and gaining speed every day - but we have no time to lose.

Much has been accomplished in the last year of our work. We see precisely what must be done before 2004 to stage a successful Olympics, and we are deeply committed to doing our duty. Athens is on track - for an Olympics that will be good for the athletes, great for the Games, and a wonderful opportunity for the world to meet the modern face of our beloved Greece.

Let me thank you for your kind attention this afternoon. In this audience we see people of diverse backgrounds, much like New York itself. It is impressive and reassuring to see all of you: men and women of accomplishment and ability; the builders of strong and beautiful families; the architects of successful and growing businesses.

But what binds us together is a treasure that extends far beyond monetary value or personal achievements. You are here because you have a deep-seated interest in Greece. An interest in Greece that will last beyond the end of the Games.

The 2004 Olympics will last for seventeen days, and you might ask yourself - what happens next? Well, we believe, as the lyrics say, "the best is yet to come."

The closing ceremony may bring down the curtain of the 2004 Olympics, but then the curtain will rise on a new, stronger, more confident and outward looking Greece.

Our country loves sports, and we will use these new facilities to host international championships, just as we did before the bid.

The airport that opened in March of this year will by then serve as a gateway to Europe and beyond.

All the investment in telecommunications and infrastructure will be the new foundation for a new day in the economic and social life of Greece.

But even more important than all of this, we will have proven to the world -and to ourselves - what we can accomplish when the people of Greece work together and embrace the challenges of contemporary life. It will be a great day in our national life. We want to share this moment with you, and we want you to help us get there.

Thank you.