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THE MAIN stadium in Athens has re-opened for business after undergoing two years of renovation work for the 13 August Games.

It is currently hosting the Greek athletic championships at which the country's top stars are competing for a place in the national Olympic squad as well as to represent Greece at a major European competition later this month.

Olympic officials are using the event to test the sports facilities, transport systems, security, medical services and hi-tech equipment.

Three months ago in the centre there was just a large hole and a pile of mud and rubble.

The roof being built just outside the huge concrete stands was a mere skeleton -- a few large steel tubes being slowly fitted together. Now the holes, mud and rubble have been replaced by a brand new athletics track and lush green turf for the javelin, discus and football competitions.

The facilities for all the other field events are also in place.

And above all is the extraordinary futuristic roof -- the two halves having slid together perfectly.

Athletes and officials taking part in the national championships now under way at the stadium have been impressed. "The facilities are very nice," said Katerina Thanou, the Greek 100 metres champion after running her first race.

"The stadium is impressive and all conditions are excellent for the Greek National Championships," said Thanou. "I strongly believe that everything will be ready on time for the Olympic Games."

Although there is still plenty to do inside the stadium, organisers are now hoping that the worst of the problems which have dogged the Olympic preparations are behind them.

Work continued -- with workers concentrating on attaching panels to the enormous roof wings -- as the competition took place in the stadium.

One of the two state-of-the-art scoreboards was in working order, quickly flashing up Thanou's 100m heat-winning time of 11.56s.

In an attempt to get the outside of the stadium completed before the Games begin, plans for landscaping the area with trees and flowers have been abandoned although massive efforts are being made to complete a new road and car parks.

Food for all

ATHENS 2004 will provide approximately 12 million meals to athletes, team officials, Olympic and Paralympic families, workforce, technical officials, accredited media, sponsors and spectators. The Food Services Department will ensure that high quality foods are provided. Ethnic preferences and dietary requirements ranging from halal (food preparation according to Islamic customs) to kosher (food preparation according to Jewish customs) to iodine intolerance will be taken into account, since the performance of athletes is related to nutrition. The Games will also give visitors the opportunity to taste Greek cuisine.

At the Olympic Village, meals will be prepared for approximately 22,000 customers on a 24-hour basis. Fifty thousand meals will be served on a daily basis from 1,500 international recipes, utilising 100 tons of food daily and creating 55 tons of waste.

Approximately 17,000 food staff members will be employed.

You have mail

NO LESS than four and a half million printed and electronic items of mail related to the Olympics have so far been sent from Greece. Destined for the 202 countries which are bringing athletes and official delegations to the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it is the largest mass dispatch ever undertaken in the Greek private sector.

Among the items sent to thousands of athletes, journalists, VIPs and members of the Olympic family were accreditation forms, electronic data, athletes' participation leaflets, medical brochures, and information about import regulations, medical services, transport and accommodation at the Olympic Village. Sorting and other mass mailing procedures posed problems. Additional concerns that had to be addressed were related to countries where regular postal services are non-existent, such as Afghanistan and Somalia, in which case other delivery methods had to be devised (diplomatic bags via embassies in neighbouring countries).

"Preparations for this mailing took three months and kept some 50 persons occupied, mostly from the Accreditation Department," reported Olympic Family Accreditation Section Manager Ilias Dalainas.

The mailing used 55 tons of paper and thousands of parcels.

In use is an ultra-modern parcel trace-and-track system, allowing senders to quickly trace parcels, finding out whether shipment has taken place properly.