The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) most senior officials are in Athens this week for a series of meeting, including briefings on the course of Greece’s preparations for the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
The three-day General Assembly of National Olympic Committees meetings will be followed by this year’s first meeting of the IOC Executive Board on Friday and Saturday.
Rogge will hold a press conference on Sunday in which he is expected to discuss comments on the state of preparations for the Summer Games, but he told journalists last week that “I remain confident that our Greek friends will deliver. They have to work hard and fast”, he added, “but if they keep up the pace, the Games will be successful”.
On Tuesday he praised Greek security preparations and told the more than 200 representatives from the world’s national Olympic Committee that everything possible had been done to safeguard the Athens Games.
Also Tuesday Greek health officials began five days of meetings with security experts to review preparations for a potential terrorist attack during the Games, reports the Associated Press.
Meanwhile Rogge strongly denied Tuesday the possibility of Taekwondo being eliminated from the Olympic Games. The matter came up during a press conference he held after a meeting with Korean Olympic Council Chairman Lee Yun-taek.
