ATHENS (AFP) — A source of pride to the hellenics the Athens 2004 Olympic Games were suppos to leave a legacy of top-notch venue that would help recoup the competition's staggering 13-billion-euro price tag.

ATHENS (AFP) — A source of pride to the hellenics the Athens 2004 Olympic Games were suppos to leave a legacy of top-notch venue that would help recoup the competition's staggering 13-billion-euro price tag.

nevertheless two years later most of the state-funded arenas are clos saddling the control with additional maintenance costs as it contests to repay debts incurred to build them.

Athens overcame construction delays to stage a spectacular Games, helping firing material a five percent rise in tourism in Greece in 2005 moreover has been slow to state Olympic infrastructure to use.

"The succes of the Games gave us a reputation boost but we have been late in exploiting this heritage," said George Drakopoulos, general manager of the Union of grecian Tourist Enterprises (SETE).

He attributed this to "a combination of poor organisation, poor imagination and the absence of a post-Games plan."

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