25 July 2004 Blog Home : July 2004 : Permalink
This is a prediction:
at some point in the future historians of the Olympic games will look back at the 2004 event and use it as a textbook example of how not to hold a massive sporting event.
My wife knows an IOC related person who is currently in Greece to prod buttock. According to that lady the Athens games look likely to be an utter shambles even if there are no terrorist troubles. Phrases like "couldn't organize a pissup in a brewery" and "third world country with delusions of grandeur" are just two of the comments and probably the only two that I can repeat without including obscenities, blasphemies and references to Oedipus and other Greek myths. Just imagine your favourite Drill Sargeant's invective and you'll get the picture.
However the most interesting comment she made is that most of the Greeks don't actually realize their lack of capability. They think they are going to do a wonderful job and have no idea how the world at large is going bitch and moan at their sloppiness. To the Greeks those little quirks, such as the fact that sometimes the new Metro trains don't stop at every station they should, are just the way life is but I have a feeling that the rest of the world will disagree
Now as is well known one anecdote doesn't prove anything, but I have a second eyewitness report to provide corroboration. One of the largest banks in Greece who shall remain nameless has decided to upgrade the network that links its cash machines (ATMs) to head office and thence to the foreign banks that will allow tourists to withdraw money. OK sounds sensible, after all Athens is expecting lots of additional visitors for the Olympics and the old network uses X.25 and 1970s era technology so an upgrade seems wise. But here's the kicker. The upgrade, which is essentially a total replacement using a completely different scheme based on IP and MPLS, is intended to go live before the games start in 3 weeks time. They haven't yet got the lab pilot running. So the chances are extremely high that they will roll this new network out before the games and see it collpase in a heap. Personally I'd make sure I got my €uros before I got on the plane to Greece if I had to go and since I don't I'm going to stay as far away as possible.