Olympic Stadium gets first test at Greek track championships

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — From the air, the long-awaited Olympic stadium looks like a butterfly. From the ground, it seems to need a little more time in its cocoon.

The unfinished centerpiece of the Athens Games got its first test Thursday, hosting the Greek track and field championships as bulldozers and cranes continued preparing the site for the Summer Olympics that begin in two months.

With construction workers in hard hats peering down from the ballyhooed steel-and-glass roof and a handful of spectators sitting on pipes destined to become prime seats, the stadium hosted its first — and only — event before the Aug. 13-29 Olympics.

The pounding of jackhammers was interrupted by a starter's pistol. Temporary signs directed visitors to their ”seats” and to a storage area for baby strollers. Six workers in overalls swept dirt off the marble steps leading to an entrance.

But the nine-lane track is in great shape, one of the two scoreboards is working and few athletes seemed bothered by the commotion surrounding the track. For many, it was the culmination of a long and anxious wait.

”I'm very impressed. It's almost done,” said Ekaterini Thanou, the defending Olympic silver medalist in the women's 100 meters. ”We have two months more to finish some small things.”

Organizers will use the three-day championships as a way to test the 75,000-seat stadium that will host the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies as well as track and field events. It will be a run-through for 700 volunteers, as well as countless police and other security personnel.

Though organizers said they would have staffers purposely try to circumvent metal detectors during the championships to see if the security system works, there was little sense of urgency on a sun-swept Thursday morning.

A reporter who showed up 15 minutes before the start of the first event, the men's discus throw, got bemused looks from the 11 police officers at one security checkpoint when he offered to open his laptop bag for inspection. The police waved him through without opening the bag.

Security seemed tighter at night, with all visitors directed through metal detectors.

Signs around the stadium implored visitors to ”Please Keep the Venue Clean,” but that was a lost cause. The area ringing the stadium is a pile of rubble, and everything inside is coated with dirt. One officer stooped to wipe dirt off his blue-gray pants. A row of concrete-caked shoes lined a hallway.

There are about 8,000 seats in place, and organizers told Athenians they could attend for free. But only a few dozen were on hand as the championships started Thursday morning. For the evening session, perhaps 2,500 spectators were in the stands.

VIPs sat on plastic chairs. Pipes poked out of the marble floor in the media center. Wires hung from ceilings, wheelbarrows sat idle in rooms destined to become offices.

The two arches of the massive roof, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, are in place and many of the glass panels have been installed. Mired in delays that at one point led Olympic officials to consider eliminating the roof, it soars gracefully above the stadium.

The roof is part of a massive remodeling of the stadium for the Olympics. The total price tag for work on the main Olympic complex — which includes several other facilities — was more than $250 million.

Landscaping will be done later. The rubble now dotted with backhoes and cranes eventually will include tree-lined promenades, fountains and flowers. More than 3,000 trees will be planted in coming weeks, along with 160,000 shrubs.

”It'll be beautiful when it's done,” said John Kirkland of Orlando, Fla., who with three friends watched the morning session. ”But I just don't see (the Athens Olympics) being polished like Atlanta or Sydney.”

One of his traveling companions, Gretchen Wolfe of Tampa, Fla., said she was a bit unnerved by the construction workers on the roof high above her head.

”We sat down and looked up, and we started saying, 'What if something breaks?”' she said.