Athens here we come

Peter Bentley on the Greek Olympics; and the plans for the sailing venue look good

Success in Sydney last year may still be fresh in our minds, but as Stephen Park (Sparky) the new Olympic Manager at the RYA says: "Sydney is behind us. Athens is our goal". So what is Team GBR doing to build a base for 2004? The Olympic sailors themselves have always attributed some of their success to the immense preparation the RYA put into ensuring the GB Sailing Team had the best training facilities, weather, tide and venue information and support structure in place in Sydney. They will demand nothing less in Athens. Despite the difficulties, the RYA is determined to provide their team with the very best facilities.

Two weeks ago Sparky visited Athens with five sailors including Paul Goodison, training partner to both Ben Ainslie and Shirley Robertson, to get a feel for the city, plan logistics, accommodation and take a look at the sailing area. Sparky sees Athens as "an interesting site". There is no basic sailing infrastructure as we know it in Britain. Most of the small harbours dotted around Athens are set up for use by small motorboats and yachts. There is barely a dinghy-launching ramp in sight. Set against this unpromising beginning, the RYA is unsurprisingly keen to build a top-quality training base. Facilities comparable to those available in Sydney and Savannah are the aim. Though Sparky would confirm that plans for a British base are well advanced he was reluctant to provide too much detail for fear of tipping-off rival teams. "We had a great support program in the run up to Sydney. We need to build on the strengths of our approach to Sydney and work hard on building up some other areas - and that includes what we do for a training base," said Park. He added: "We will do what we need to do".

Goodison's initial impressions are interesting. "Compared with Sydney, sailing will be in open water.," he said. "There are hills and buildings along the seafront of the proposed sailing area which need consideration and, with the Olympics taking place between 3-26 August, historically there is a big thermal effect at that time of year."

Like many others, Paul is sceptical about the Olympic facilities. "There's plenty of work to be done to get close to Sydney," he added. "Little appears to have been done on the ground. A new airport has been built on the edge of the city, but with no connecting road yet. The local airport employees are dragging their heels, as they don't want to move. With the tourist season approaching it could be November before any move begins."

Robertson is another of our top sailors who has sailed in Athens. Like Sparky, she too sees it as a tough venue. "It's going to be difficult training in Athens during the summer months due to the heat alone. The city is small, polluted and normally congested. Without a new infrastructure in place it could be hard, but at least it's close enough to home to fly home at the weekends."

While it would be easy to see just doom and gloom, Athens is really no different from any of the last four Olympic venues as far as sailing is concerned. Pussan, Barcelona, Savannah and Sydney were all identified in the early days as "impossible venues", with "no infrastructure, no wind, no facilities and an unsuitable race area." But every one of these settings produced worthy medallists.