2023-09-29 21:07:53
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 15 minutes ago, Updated now
Panathinaikos played at the Olympic Stadium in Athens against Villarreal on September 21 ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS / REUTERS
The Athens Olympic Stadium, the largest sports infrastructure in Greece, is closing its doors with immediate effect, its glass and metal roof not meeting certain regulatory standards, its officials said on Friday. The roof of the stadium as well as that of the adjacent velodrome, “do not meet authorized regulatory levels for static adequacy“, said the Olympic Sports Center of Athens (OAKA) in a statement.
Consequently, “all sporting and cultural activities practiced at the stadium and velodrome are suspended from today», he added, specifying that a second study had to be carried out in order to confirm these first results.
Football, athletics, concerts…
Weighing nearly 9,000 tons, this glass and metal roof was designed by the famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava for the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, for a budget of 256 million euros ($270 million), i.e. 30 million more than the initial budget. The 69,600-seat stadium, built in 1982, is hosting the matches of the Panathinaikos football club in the UEFA Europa League this season. Panathinaikos played against Spanish club Villarreal on September 21 and a meeting with French team Rennes was scheduled for October 26. The stadium also hosts athletics events and concerts, such as that of the American hard rock group Guns N’ Roses last July.
”
data-script=”
>
#Closure #Athens #Olympic #stadium #threatened #collapse