The official inauguration ceremony of The Ellinikon Sports Park turned into an impressive celebration, with Ellinikon moving, as Odysseas Athanasiou characteristically said, “from the era of plans to the era of deliveries.”
The CEO of Lamda Development noted during his speech that the Sports Park had essentially been inaugurated before the official ceremony.
“There are places that are inaugurated with the cutting of the ribbon. Here is a place that has been inaugurated earlier,” he said, since the space is already being used, while he emphasized how important it is for a child who comes to play to consider the space their own.
Mr. Athanasiou stressed that sport in Greece has traditionally been linked to education, fair play, discipline and community and not only to physical exercise, noting that this perception was at the core of the design.
As he revealed, within the next few months the area will expand from about 300 stremmas to 500, however “the real measure of this space will be the moments,” while he chose the word “coexistence” to describe its philosophy.
At the same time, he also responded to the criticism that had been expressed in the past that Ellinikon would develop into a closed community for a few.
“Today we do not need to answer that. The answer is given in practice. Wherever you live, Ellinikon will have a place in your daily life,” he noted.
The speech also took on a personal character, with Odysseas Athanasiou mentioning that Ellinikon has played a leading role in the last 15 years of his life and has evolved into a “life purpose.”
He even recalled that there were years during which the progress of the project could not even be photographed. “There were no parks, courts, buildings. Progress was often financing, an agreement,” he said, referring to the difficult journey to implementation.
Mitsotakis: “We draw strength from every project that becomes reality”
Kyriakos Mitsotakis focused on the open character of the investment as well as on the importance of delivering the new sports park, stating that he was “happy and moved” by the inauguration of an infrastructure that, as he said, belongs to the residents of the southern suburbs and to Attica as a whole.
The prime minister described the Sports Park as “an important lung for a better daily life and a springboard for more victories,” speaking of an emblematic intervention, not only because of its size but also because, as he stressed, it marks the transition from yesterday to tomorrow.
“An investment that is finally becoming reality after many years of rigidities and inertia,” he said, adding that “our slogan is vindicated, we said it and we did it.”
He also dwelt on the image that Ellinikon has already begun to acquire, noting that even the most skeptical who visited the Experience Park and will now come to the Sports Park can see that a closed space for a few is not being created.
At the same time, he underlined that the Sports Park is only the beginning, as the contract with Lamda Development includes upgrades of sports facilities in other parts of Attica as well.
“For our government and for me personally, investment in sport is a deeply social investment,” he noted, linking the project to the broader planning for Attica and concluding that “we draw strength from every project that becomes reality.”
Mouratoglou, SEGAS and the Paralympic Committee
The evening also included new announcements about the uses of the sports park.
Sissy Iliopoulou announced the creation of a tennis academy, something that was confirmed a little later with a video by Patrick Mouratoglou. The well-known coach said he was impressed by his visit to the facilities and announced the creation of the Mouratoglou Racket Club in Athens.
An important piece of news also came from the statement of the Attica regional governor Nikos Hardalias. As he announced, the Region is completing next Wednesday the process of granting and leasing the track and field facilities, so that in cooperation with SEGAS, activities of athletes affected by the relocation from the Agios Kosmas facilities can be transferred there.
At the same time, the space will be used for mass sports programs with free access for citizens as well as for hosting sports events.
The Sports Park will also house a new office of the Hellenic Paralympic Committee, with the “key” being symbolically handed over to its president and gold Paralympian Giorgos Kapellakis. “We want to do as much as we can for the Greek Paralympians who bring glory to our country. New successes will come,” was the message that accompanied the handover.
An Olympic Games aura with Petrounias
What preceded the speeches was also particularly impressive. The evening began with a choreography that had a strong reference to the area’s Olympic past.
More than one hundred children, dressed in white and holding small lights reminiscent of Olympic torches, accompanied Olympian Lefteris Petrounias into the venue, to the sounds of imposing music.
At the climax of the ceremony, the Greek champion raised a larger luminous element that strongly resembled an Olympic torch, in an image that directly evoked 2004 and the Games that had left a strong imprint on the wider Ellinikon area.
The country’s sporting history also had a strong presence on the big screens. In a video appeared, among others, Giorgos Karagkounis, Kostas Katsouranis and Antonis Nikopolidis from football, Dimitris Diamantidis and Theodoris Papaloukas from basketball, as well as representatives of younger generations and different sports.
Among them were tennis players Elena Christofi and Petros Tsitsipas, pole vault champion Nikol Kyriakopoulou, hammer thrower Christos Frantzeskakis and Paralympic athlete Stelios Malakopoulos.
Attention then turned to the sky. An impressive drone show successively formed luminous depictions referring to the sports that the new venue will host. A football, basketball, tennis, as well as the figure of a track and field athlete appeared above the Sports Park, before the aerial choreography was completed with the logo of Lamda Development.