I would like to know everyones elses opinions about a tarp being used as a roof for the Swimming venue in Athens. It is literally going to be a tarp held up by some lousy poles. In a way I'm not surprised that it hs come to this. Do you think that Athens will be ready in time. Maybe they can finish some more before the Paralympics. I'd hate to be in a wheelchair in Athens surrounded by a construction site.

Ill just be looking at the races, I mean the Olympics in Sydney had amazing stadiums and it is wrong to compare them with Athens especially with work in the whole city going on 24 hours a day. I dont think what the swimming pool looks like is the major concern.

What choice do they have IT HAS TO BE READY IN TIME!

Otherwise im going to be in serious depression for a fortnight.

Cant wait to the Olympics.

Absolute joke!

The tarp won't be so bad. The 1984 and 1992 pools were open air. Having been to the one in Barcelona, I thought it looked fantastic. With a climate like Athens, they shouldn't have worried about the roof until after the Games. It just never rains in summer.

But the fact is they set a goal to build a roof and they failed. This is utter crap. Picking the Olympics host on sentiment rather than competence.

I agree Jeffles. Did you know that the roof wasn't even thought of until last year, including the one for the main stadium? Athens got the games in September of 1997, yet they only start planning roofs for the 2 MAJOR venues in May of 2003, little more than a year before the games. The IOC should have put its foot down harder when problems were emerging around the time of the Sydney Games. I mean: they were already behind schedule so they add more to the project. That does not make any sense. This is a total stuff-up and Egan, while you say that IT HAS TO BE READY ON TIME! there is a major precedent: MONTREAL!!! Their main stadium wasn't completely finished to plan until TWELVE YEARS after the 1976 Olympics. And even then it was a total lemon, as its roof (thats right, a roof, just like this time) and the tower that was meant to hold it in place were mysteriously missing by the time of the Opening Ceremony.
By the way, now that the glass roof has been postponed for the Swimming venue (meanwhile Athens has a beautiful indoor swimming arena with several thousand seats right next door to the planned venue that will now go roofless) will the pool be bathed in sunlight or will a shadecloth of some description be deployed? Because we don't want Thorpie sweating too much in his tight Adidas full-body togs.