Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex
Coordinates: 37°56′N 23°41′E / 37.933°N 23.683°E
The Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Sports Complex is a complex in the coastal zone of Athens, Greece. It consists of two indoor arenas and a beach volleyball stadium, and it hosted Handball, Taekwondo, and volleyball events at the 2004 Summer Olympics. The complex is located in Faliro, not far from the port of Piraeus.
The complex consists of the following venues:
Peace and Friendship Stadium
The Peace and Friendship Stadium SEF (37°56′32.91″N 23°40′02.27″E / 37.9424750°N 23.6672972°E), known as S.E.F. after its Greek name (Stadio Erinis & Filias - Greek: Στάδιο Ειρήνης και Φιλίας) is an indoor arena located in Faliro that hosted indoor volleyball at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
The arena which was built in 1981 and it opened in 1985[1] had previously hosted various major international events, including the Final tournament of the 1987 Men's European Basketball Championships and preliminary games of the 1998 FIBA World Basketball Championships.
Renovations for the Olympics commenced in April 2002 and were completed on June 30, 2004. The new stadium was officially opened on August 11, 2004, shortly before the opening of the games. The venue's current regular seating capacity is 14,940 seats, while the regular capacity was 17,000 seats before the 2004 Summer Olympics renovation.
However, for home playoff matches of the Olympiacos basketball club, for which the SEF arena is their regular home court, the seating capacity can be increased to 16,000-17,000 with temporary seating.
Sports Pavilion
The Faliro Sports Pavilion Arena (37°56′09.94″N 23°41′27.91″E / 37.9360944°N 23.6910861°E) is an indoor arena in Palaio Faliro, near Athens, Greece. It was the site of preliminary matches in handball and the taekwondo competition in the 2004 Summer Olympics at Athens. The arena was completed on December 20, 2003 and officially opened on August 12, 2004, shortly before the Olympics. The arena seats 8,536, though only 5,800 seats were publicly available during the Olympics.
Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre
After the games
The Peace & Friendship Stadium is used by Olympiacos Basketball Club (as it was before the Olympics) and regularly holds crowds of up to 14,905 fans, especially for Euroleague basketball games.
In 2008 it was reported that several of the facilities at Faliro have fallen into a state of disrepair, with the venues afflicted by vandalism, graffiti and strewn with rubbish.[2] However, some of the facilities are presently in use or in the process of being converted for post-Olympics use, as shown below:
| Facility | Olympics Use | Current/Proposed Use |
|---|---|---|
| Peace and Friendship Stadium | Volleyball | Home court for Olympiacos BC (basketball),[3] Concerts, Conventions and trade shows[4] |
References
- ↑ History (gr)
- ↑ Malone, Andrew (2008-07-18). "Abandoned, derelict, covered in graffiti and rubbish: what is left of Athens' £9billion Olympic 'glory'". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
- ↑ ΣΤΑΔΙΟ ΕΙΡΗΝΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΦΙΛΙΑΣ Olympiacos Basketball Section Home court
- ↑ http://portfolio.sport24.gr/sef SEF transformations
- 2004 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 2. pp. 349, 403, 417, 425.