In private moments, there is a good deal of breath holding among some within the International Olympic Committee when conversation turns to Athens, host city of the 2004 Games.
Publicly, however, when the IOC's members gathered for the organization's 115th Session last week in Prague, statements leaned more toward guarded optimism, which is an improvement from as little as a year ago.
"It is now a matter of monitoring three or four areas," said Gilbert Felli, the member of the IOC's executive staff specifically responsible for oversight of Olympic Games organizing committees.
"Sending a group [of observers] in about every three weeks or so seems to work," said Richard Pound, a Montreal attorney and Canadian member of the IOC. "The view of deadlines there is you take it all the way to 11:59:59 and then say, 'See, we did it.' "
IOC executive board member Sergei Bubka of Ukraine, a four-time pole vault Olympian and chairman of the IOC Athletes Commission, said: "We can see good, positive developments and improvement.
"Of course, it is a huge, huge job still ahead. It is not possible to rest. Rest will be for after the Games."
Athens is still trying to recover from politically fueled gridlock that held up measurable progress between 1997, when the city was awarded the Games, and 2000. The organizing committee, ATHOC 2004, now insists it is on track with 13 months to go.
The IOC's executive board was shown a seven-minute video last week and heard a report from ATHOC's dynamic president, and former member of Greek Parliament, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki.
Still, the Greek government, not ATHOC, controls roads, transit and other infrastructure development, as well as decisions about when new stadiums and arenas are ready to be turned over to ATHOC. The government also was sole negotiator of a long delayed but recently signed contract with a U.S. firm specializing in security system hardware installation.
"The Greeks have a hell of a challenge on their hands," said Nigel Churton, chief executive of London-based security consulting firm Control Risks Group, adviser to the 1992 Barcelona and 2000 Sydney Games.
Security alone is why the IOC's practice of turning over its premier event to a city, a federal government and a temporary organizing committee is increasingly risky. It is also why an IOC commission last week filed a report to the executive board on how to harness the costs and complexities of hosting the Games.
ATHOC has an operational budget of nearly $2 billion; the government is spending more than $4 billion on Olympic venues and related projects.
While it was not clear that his comment was inspired by Athens, IOC President Jacques Rogge last week said the hard part about downsizing the Games is "dividing the line between the core of what you need and the 'nice-to-have.'"
The IOC judges one of Athens' core needs to be a light-rail system, which is also behind schedule. IOC officials have to keep in mind 11 worldwide corporate sponsors paying $50 million to $60 million each, preferring not to subject guests and VIPs to unfinished stadiums or Athens' historically jammed roads.
IOC marketing director Michael Payne said he believes sponsors understand Athens is not going to be a typical Olympic experience. "They realize the unique symbolism of these Games and the opportunity that it presents," he said.
Churton, whose firm was in a European consortium that bid for the Athens security infrastructure contract before losing out to U.S.-based SAIC, said Athens faces a time crunch even after its security technology backbone is up and running.
The presence of military and other security personnel "will probably be on a scale not seen before," Churton said. "There is a danger it will be hugely manpower intensive. But the question is: Will it be suitably integrated and backed up? That's what I worry about."
Steve Woodward reported from meetings of the International Olympic Committee's Executive Board and 115th Session in Prague, Czech Republic.
