Olympic preparations 'on track' despite sacking

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A senior Olympic official is confident that the sacking of the minister overseeing Greece's Olympic preparations will not affect the quality of the 2004 Games.

IOC Co-ordination Commission chairman Jacques Rogge told CNN.com he believed the games' infrastructure would be ready on time and was pleased with Greece's actions since a critical report in April.

The firing of Culture Minister Theodoros Pangalos would have "no effect" on preparations, Rogge said on the eve of a visit to Athens for a progress report.

Pangalos was sacked for criticising other ministers and contentious government labour reforms rather than for poorly performing in his role overseeing Olympic preparations.

Rogge said the local organising committee of this year's widely-praised Sydney Olympics had seen three presidents and three CEOs in the seven years between being named as the Olympic venue and the games themselves.

"In political life and management seven years is an eternity," he said.

Rogge authored a scathing report on the Greek preparations and organisation in April.

But in August Rogge was more enthusiastic because of the prime minister taking a personal interest in the games, and a change of law that allowed the organising committee to cut through layers of bureaucracy,

Moving the games elsewhere had "never been considered" by the IOC, he added.

On Friday Olympic IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said he was "very pleased" with what he said was a "very drastic change" by the organising committee.

During this week's three-day visit Rogge said he would be checking the "usual list" of around 40 areas ranging from transport and security to marketing and catering.

One major change he would be seeking was to bring forward the building deadlines so that test events could be held from late 2003.

Despite Athens having over 70 percent of its planned venues already built when it won the bid in 1997 there has been concern about a lack of building since then.

Sacked Culture Minister Theodoros Pangalos

But Rogge said work on one of the major worries, the Olympic village had begun in the last few weeks and that the Sydney village was completed with only a few weeks to spare.

Work on the rowing and canoeing venue -- a source of protests by environmentalists concerned about the effect on wetlands -- had also recently started.

And on Friday organisers announced a 20 billion drachma ($50 million) sponsorship deal with the state-run Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation.

Rogge, who also co-ordinated preparations for Sydney, said organising for such a huge event was "always difficult," but added: "It all comes right at the last minute."

Sydney organisers were dogged by criticism over botched ticket allocation, sponsorship and budget shortfalls, and threats of Aboriginal protests right up until opening.

In a highly publicised rebuke to Athens in April, IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch had warned that of the three levels of organisation -- green where things were proceeding smoothly, yellow where there were problems and red meaning the games were in danger -- Greece was close to the red level.

Rogge said he has heard others say it was now more at the green end of the yellow phase.

"There is enough time to finish everything but no time to be lost," he said.

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