Paralympics in the 21 Century: Athens Wants to Set New Standards

At a press conference on 4 July, the Managing Director of ATHOC, Mr. Ioannis Spanudakis, made the following statement with regards to the organization of the Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004.

"ATHENS 2004 believes and has proven that the Paralympics of the twenty-first century cannot be treated in ways that are different, compared to the way the Olympics themselves are held. This is one of the summit meetings, and the performance of the disabled athletes many times can compare to that of the able-bodied athletes.

We are certain that our constructive cooperation with the International Paralympic Committee will help us do things better than Sydney, that did organise a very successful Paralympics, and will also help us do our work better. Also, in this way we will be able to solve some problems that both sides think of as very important, such as accessibility. That does not relate to accessibility to our venues only, but accessibility overall. The issue of accessibility for the disabled persons is an issue that those people will have to tackle with when they have to circulate in the city.

We know that this is the situation, and we want to come to grips with it. This is why our services have written down all the requirements and the necessary standards that have been submitted to the bodies that are in charge of our transport and our services. So for us this is a basic condition: There has to be accessibility for the disabled persons.

In this way, Athens will become a friendlier city for the disabled persons, compared to other countries in the world.

As to a different issue, the 2004 Paralympics also provide us with the opportunity to enhance the performance of the Paralympic athletes. Those athletes will be models for everyone in this country to follow with strength and with the strength of their work, because those people have to overcome a series of adversities, and they are actually trying to overcome themselves.

This, together with the friendliness of Athens that we hope will be able to offer, constitute the major advantages that we, as a country, hope to reap out of the Olympic Games, and we hope that our Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the best Olympics and Paralympics ever."