The Hellinikon Olympic Complex is a closed, partially demolished sports complex, situated at Hellinikon in the south

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, approximately 16 kilometres from the

Olympic Village An Olympic Village is an accommodation center built for the Olympic Games, usually within an Olympic Park or elsewhere in a host city. Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials and athletic trainers. Afte ...

. It was built on the site of the former Hellinikon International Airport for the staging of the 2004 Summer Olympics and

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympi ...

. It consists of five separate venues.

Venues

Hellinikon Indoor Arena

The Indoor arena was an

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

adjacent to the Fencing Hall. It hosted the

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

preliminary matches and the Handball finals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The facility seats 15,000 spectators for

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, although only 10,700 seats were made publicly available during the Olympics - and seats 13,500 fans for handball - though only 10,300 seats were made publicly available during the games. The facility was completed on May 31, 2004 and officially opened on July 30, 2004. During the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games, the Indoor Arena was the venue for

Wheelchair rugby Wheelchair rugby (originally murderball, and known as quad rugby in the United States) is a team sport for athletes with a disability. It is practised in over twenty-five countries around the world and is a summer Paralympic sport. The US na ...

. It has also been the home arena of the Greek basketball club

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

, and it has also hosted several finals matches of the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...

. The Greek basketball club Panellinios also played European cup home games at the arena. It was demolished in 2022.

Fencing Hall

Olympic Baseball Centre

The Olympic Baseball Centre in

consists of two

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

stadiums. It was the site of the

games at the 2004 Summer Olympics in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. The larger stadium seats 8,700 fans-though only 6,700 seats were made publicly available during the Olympics; the smaller stadium seats 4,000 spectators, though only 3,300 seats were made publicly available during the Games. The facility had to be constructed with significant foreign help in the design, as there were only a handful of dusty baseball diamonds in the whole of

before the 2004 Olympics were awarded to Athens in 1997. Construction on the facility was completed on February 27, 2004, and it was officially opened on August 12, 2004, a day before the

Opening Ceremonies An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

. During the 2004 Summer Paralympic Games, the Olympic Baseball Centre was the venue for Archery. Athen 627

Olympic Canoe-Kayak Slalom Centre

Olympic Hockey Centre

Olympic Softball Stadium

Post-Olympics Development

The table below lists the current status and usage of the Hellinikon Olympic Complex facilities. Venues in ''italics'' have been demolished. External Olympic Rings - Athens 2004

The site was used to house refugee populations in the current Refugee crisis in Europe. The three camps were home to over three thousand refugees living in mostly tented accommodation. There are currently works under way to convert much of the former Hellinikon International Airport site to a metropolitan park, that requires demolishing of the complex's venues.

External links

Hellinikon Indoor Arena
@ stadia.gr

References

2004 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 2. pp. 269, 291, 318, 353, 395. {{Baseball in Greece Venues of the 2004 Summer Olympics Sports complexes in Greece Olympic Parks