| Olympic Sports Hall |
| Capacity: 18,989 (maximum capacity for basketball games) |
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Location:
The arena is located in Maroussi, a northern suburb of Athens (9 km
from the city centre, 22 km from the airport). It is part of the Athens
Olympic Sports Complex (better known from its initials in Greek as
OAKA). Access by:
Car - Exit the city centre to the north via Kifissias Avenue and just follow the roadsigns to "OAKA". If you come from the Attiki Odos ring road, use exit 11 (signposted: "Kifissias - Ol. Stadium"). Bus - Use either E14 or X14 from Syntagma Square directly to OAKA. |
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Metro - The ride from the city centre ("Omonia") takes 25 minutes. Use line 1 and get off at "Irini". From there it is a 5min walk through the Olympic Complex to the Sports Hall. |
| Builit in: 1995 |
| Home of: Panathinaikos B.C. (Basket League), AEK Athens B.C. (Basket League) |
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More
data: The Olympic Sports Hall is one of the biggest indoor arenas
in Europe. It and its neighbouring Olympic
Stadium are commonly referred to simply as "OAKA", the
initials for the Olympic Sports Complex of which they are part. The
Sports Hall is actually comprised of two independent but connecting
buildings: the main arena and the training halls. It is notable for
the distinctive A-frame roof that features four huge pillars, each
35m tall, creating a span of 108m. Its design allows abundant sunlight
to come into the main arena during the day.
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Besides
ball games, the Olympic Sports Hall can also host gymnastics (for
which its capacity is reduced to 16,700 due to the removal of the
lower stands). Over the years, it has been the venue of the following
major basketball events: 1995
EuroBasket, 1995
World Championship for Men Under-19, 1998
World Championship for Men (final phase), 2007
Euroleague Final-Four and 2008
Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men (prior to the 2008 Beijing
Olympic Games). Additionally, the arena has hosted 3 Greek Basketball
Cup Finals (1997, 2001 and 2007) and also 3 Greek Basketball All-Star
Games (1996, 1999 and 2000 - although the last two took place eariler
in the season, on 21/11/1998 and 20/11/1999 respectively).
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The
Olympic Sports Hall was used during the 2004 Athens Olympic
Games. It hosted the finals of the basketball
tournament (not the prelimenaries), as well as artistic gymnastics
and trampoline. In order for the then ten-year old arena
to be in top shape, minor upgrading took place in early 2004. The
works mainly involved its electromechanical installations and their
total cost reached € 7 million.
The Athens Olympic Sports Hall (official website) is owned by the Greek State. |
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The
second space image of the Olympic Complex comes from the website of
Digitalglobe
All other photographs come from the website of the General Secretariat of Sports |
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