TargetTalk

I read, this morning, in the newspaper, an article quoting Russell Mark, who is currently in Athens for the World Cup events.
Apparently, the ranges are not finished - the rifle and pistol ranges are about 75% completed, but the trap range is only anot 55% ready.
You cannot drive to the range, as the road is not built, - there is only a dirt track, and there is no electricity!
It looks like it is back to the old days - a stop watch, and a length of string, to operate the targets!!!
The World Cup events start on Monday!

I have never heard of such a shambles, before this. The ISSF Officials should be worrying about getting the ranges finished on time, instead of stirring up the shooters with all these new rules and regulations.
Apparently a lot of the other Olympic venues are not yet finished, but there is very little news about it on the Media.
Has anyone else heard anything about it?

Yicks, from the one picture up at athens2004.com, the range looks pretty clean... or maybe that was the finished corner...

String and stop watch eh? Well, we Canadian athletes should feel right at home then, because that's all we got! A number of us are heading to Athens this Sat, so if we can find internet access there, we'll up date you all on the situation.

Avianna

Here is the full report as posted by Fox Sport (Australia). Shotgun events seems to be in a worse position than pistol or rifle.

===============

Athens shooting venue blasted
By John Thirsk
April 16, 2004

MICHAEL DIAMOND's final shot at a third Olympic Games has hit another obstacle with fellow gold medallist Russell Mark labelling the Athens Olympic venue a disaster.

Dual gold medal winner Diamond went one up against Nathan Cassells with a four-target win in their second shootoff in Cairo this week.

He is now hot favourite to win the last of their three shootoffs next Thursday, to join Adam Vella in Australia's trap-shooting team at the Olympics from August 13-29.

More than 100 nations are in Athens for the World Cup starting Monday, with competitors angry with the facility and talking of forcing a postponement of the event or transferring it to another site - possibly Cyprus.

"I have spoken to Russell and he has told me the venue is unsuitable," Diamond told The Daily Telegraph from Athens yesterday.

"It's getting frustrating and all I want to do - and I know Nathan feels the same - is to get [the shootoff] on the road and over with. I've only arrived from Cairo and haven't assessed the Olympic venue with our coach yet, but will have a practice at another range today.

"I don't think there is any other option except to go ahead - and I don't care what it looks like."

Marks, who has been to the Olympic venue, said there was no electricity to put the clay targets up for the competitors.

"I can't believe it ... the venue is a disgrace," Marks said.

"I don't think they can get the venue ready in three days and it's a serious problem without any power, the cables above the ground and a kilometre dust road going to the venue which is like a mountain goat track.

"The rifle and pistol events are an 80 per cent chance of going ahead, but the shotgun is only 50 per cent ready.

"No one knows if the machinery works to put the targets in the air and my feeling is that the venue is a month away before it is anywhere near world or Olympic standard. Right now it's going to be like a picnic shoot."

The Daily Telegraph

Best wishes to the Canadian guys who are off to Athens , and to anyone else going there, too. If you meet up with the Aussies say Hi from down-Under. (Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
On the radio this morning, it was remarked that the venue most likely to be ready in time was the Parthenon!!!! :))
I can't see there will be any TV coverage of the World Cup - especially if there is no electricity!
I hope the toilets are working!!
I feel sorry for the guys if they have to carry heavy gun boxes up a mountain track, as cars cannot get up there! Don't carry them in the shooting arm/hand!

It is a shame that the Greek people are being let down this way. Merlbourne (Oz) is the 3rd largest Greek city in the world! We know lots of Greek Aussies, and they are great people.
Looks like the shooters will have to have a working bee there, to get it ready in time!!

Just got back from Athens. Range is completely fine. Overall, needs some cosmetic work, but functions well. Huge range and is really amazing.

I can't speak to the condition of the Athens ranges, but there have been a string of reports in the press that the overall Athans Olympic facilities are well behind schedule. Don't touch the paint at the opening ceremonies - it's likely to be wet.

Question: How did these first 4 messages get back in circulation? They're all from before the World Cup. No big deal, just curious.
Check out Patrick Haynes message & pictures. Looks not too bad.

Question: How did these first 4 messages get back in circulation? They're all from before the World Cup. No big deal, just curious.

That's how these forums are set up to work - anytime there's a new post on the thread, it gets pushed to the top. That way readers can keep track of new comments, and not lose a topic.

Yeah, it was late at night. I'll just put a great big "Duh" on my forehead & go back to sleep. Sorry & thanks.

http://www.drudgereport.com/

has a link to articles on the Olympic Venues. They are all behind schedule. The article (not drudge's articel by the way) mentions that the Socialist party ran Greece until last year, and built absolutely NO Olympic Venues. They've only been building for a short time.

Mike
Wichita KS

I have just seen, in today's paper, a quote by Russell Mark that the ranges are finished for the very basics, but the people are working very hard to make improvements.

When I watched (on the ISSF TV Video)some of the World Cup events held there, it was quite a good effort. It seems there will be some teething problems, - especially with transport, however, it looks as if the competition will be hard fought by everyone.

I think the weather will take a big toll on the competitors, and spectators.
I hope the World Cup shooters will be back here by the weekend, and I will then get news first-hand!

From what I have seen in photos, it looks much like the Sydney range.

Alex L wrote:
From what I have seen in photos, it looks much like the Sydney range.

Although some things are improved - at least the 25m shooters can come to the 'ready' without having to stand back from the firing line.

S

I got back from the WC about a week ago, although there is still a lot of cosmetic finishing to be done, the functional parts of the range are working just fine.

The air range is huge, I believe more than 80 positions, with nice uniform lighting overall. Each position feels spacy (even though I am sure they are spec), I think this may be because the bench is at the proper height and there is just a lot of space in the entire range. I remember shooting at the Fort Benning air range, and it was crowded and awkward because the bench was so high, the lane was narrow, and there was no room for anything. I think people have already posted pictures of the air range, and you can see, it is gorgeous. It just has that fresh out of the box feel to it, just a pleasure to shoot in. The spectator stands don't have chairs yet, I assume they are going to put chairs in, I hope they don't exect spectators to stand while watching a match.

The 25m range is also very nice, again, everything feels fresh and new. They were just finishing patching things up the day I arrived, so my unofficial practice was delayed. The five targets per bank does feel close together, so depending on where your position within that bank is, you may have to adjust to the slight angle shift. I don't remember if this was the case at Benning, or in Santo Domingo, but I am sure they must have done it according to spec. So it may just be me. I felt the lighting on target is a little dark, but that is probably because the day I was shooting was cloudy and rainy.

The 50m range is well, big as usual, and windy (but it was very windy the whole time I was in Athens). The wind streamers were going crazy, but from what I could tell, everything looked good.

The shotgun range did not have grass, that was probably the biggest thing I noticed, so shooters may have had some trouble picking out the plates as they were on a redish-brown soil background rather than the green they must be use to. But they didn't seem to be having too much of a hard time.

The finals hall is just beautiful, and I have to tell you, it is HUGE. I mean, all the events except shotgun is held in there, so it is more than a 50m range. All the electronics are portable, they just wheel the targets in, plug them in, and voila, it is a AP range, or RF, or FP. Very cool. There are 3 jumbo projectors on and many TVs hanging from above. The TVs display each shooter, and the jumbo projectors display the familar 8 shot screen, and scores. It may take a little getting use to the finals hall just because it is in doors, and it is so huge, with a very high ceiling, but I am sure it's only for the better, as most of us can only wish we can shoot in a in door 50m range. It was kind of funny that we heard birds chirping in the finals hall days before any finals were held, and I worried what if some birds decide to come down to greet the shooters during the finals, but this problem never materialized. Actually, I didn't hear any birds during any of the finals, maybe they had people remove them.

The only thing that I did feel a little weird about was the range officers did not appear very experienced. For example, they did not seem to know the command for SP. First they were saying "attention, ... 3, 2, 1, Start". And then they tried "attention, ... ... ... , start". Luckily, finally they did clue in and just gave "attention". Yes, they did get it right eventually, but it still worries you. I suppose this is the crew that will be running the line at the Olympics, but I do hope they have some experienced supervisors on hand.

So, overall, the range is beautiful, and once the cosmetic touches are done, it will be gorgeous outside and in. Since the range is half way on a mountain, the scenary is quite pretty, especially when there are some clouds... it's like, shooting in the clouds... ah... very poetic :-)

I don't know about the other venues, but I am sure the range will be great.

Thanks for the detailed descriptions! (As close to Athens as I'll get :^)

Do you know what the plans are for these big halls AFTER the Olympics?