The first year after the re-opening to the public of the Panathenaic Stadium on April 15, 2010, was completed with great success following action taken by the Hellenic Olympic Committee and its President, Spyros Capralos.
In the first year, 83.000 people, Greeks and foreigners, visited the Stadium which became one of the most popular destinations in Athens, with historical and cultural interest.
Many important personalities visited the Stadium, among them the Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou, the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, the Vice President of the Peoples’ Republic of China Zhang Dejiang, the Ambassador of the USA Daniel Smith, the Greek Minister of Culture Pavlos Geroulanos, the Minister of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs Anna Diamantopoulou and many others.
From the statistics of the automatic audio guide system which is given to visitors, 36% received information in English, 24% in Spanish, 12% in French, 10% in German, 5% in Greek and Portuguese and 4% received information in Russian. The rest of the visitors received information in Italian, Japanese and Chinese.
However, the fact that fills the HOC with great satisfaction is that among the 83.000 visitors, 26.275 were pupils from schools throughout the country that learnt the history of the Stadium which is indissolubly connected to the history of sports and Olympism in Greece.
The Kids’ Athletics program which takes place at the Panathenaic Stadium, is implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs and the Athletics Federation. The program is under the auspices of the IOC, is sponsored by Paul & Alexandra Kanellopoulos Foundation and is supported by the International Olympic Truce Foundation.
The program, awarded by the IOC, gives emphasis on the educational value of sports in shaping the young people’s personalities and aims to bring the children of elementary schools close to classic sports while it gives them the opportunity to learn our history and culture.
In the pilot phase, from April 26 until May 21, 2010 to 2.300 students participated while it continued in the current school year and by May 20, 2011 more than 100 schools by 5.500 students in total are expected to visit the Panathenaic Stadium.
Afterwards, the Kid's Athletics program will be transferred to the premises of the HOC in Ancient Olympia, from 23 to 27 May 2011 where 1.100 students from West Peloponnese region of Greece will participate.
The Panathenaic Stadium is open seven days a week from 08:00 to 19:00 and offers a memorable experience to all visitors.