The Athens Olympic Velodrome is a velodrome stadium that is located in Marousi,

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 ...

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 ...

, at the

Athens Olympic Sports Complex The Olympic Athletic Center of Athens Spiros Louis ( el, Ολυμπιακό Αθλητικό Κέντρο Αθηνών "Σπύρος Λούης", ''Olympiakó Athlitikó Kéntro Athinón "Spýros Loúis"'') or OACA ()), is a sport facilities c ...

. The stadium, which seats 5,250 - though only 3,300 seats were made publicly available for the

2004 Summer Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

- has distinctive twin roofs, covering the stands on each side.

History

The Olympic Velodrome was originally built in 1991 as an outdoor venue, for the Mediterranean Games. It was extensively refurbished in order to host the

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it ...

events at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. It was redesigned for the 2004 Olympics by Spanish

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose sculp ...

who added a roof. The track, made of

Afzelia ''Afzelia'' is a genus of plants in family Fabaceae. The thirteen species all are trees, native to tropical Africa or Asia. The genus name of ''Afzelia'' is in honour of Adam Afzelius (1750–1837), a Swedish botanist and an apostle of Carl Lin ...

wood, is long and wide. Reconstruction of the stadium was completed on May 30, 2004, and it was officially re-opened on July 30, 2004.

References

2004 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 2. p. 303.
OAKA.com profile.

External links

information
at ''FixedGearFever.com'' Sports venues completed in 1991 Venues of the 2004 Summer Olympics

Velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

Velodromes in Greece Cycle racing in Greece Olympic cycling venues 1991 establishments in Greece {{Summer-Olympic-venue-stub