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Olympic Indoor Hall

O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall
OAKA
Athens Olympic Indoor Hall - exterior.jpg
Full name O.A.C.A. Indoor Sports Center
Location Athens Olympic Sports Complex, Marousi, Athens, Greece
Coordinates 38°02′16″N 23°47′05″E / 38.037862°N 23.784676°E / 38.037862; 23.784676
Owner Greek Government
Operator OAKA S.A.
Capacity Gymnastics: 17,600
Basketball:
18,500
(fan seating)
18,800
(with media seats)
18,989
(with VIP seats)
Record attendance 25,300
(Panathinaikos vs. BarcelonaEuroleague, April 2013)
Surface Parquet
Construction
Opened 1995
Renovated 2002–2004
(Olympic Games)
2016
Architect Santiago Calatrava (renovation)
Tenants
Greek National Basketball Team
Panathinaikos Athens
2006 Eurovision Song Contest
AEK Athens

The O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall (honorarily named Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall since 2016), which is a part of the Olympic Athletic Center of Athens (O.A.C.A.) "Spiros Louis" (Greek: O.A.K.A.), was completed in 1995, and was the largest indoor venue in use for sporting events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. It is located in the Athens suburb of Marousi. It is considered to be one of the biggest and most modern indoor sports arenas in all of Europe.

The arena also contains a training facility. Since 2016, it is named after the well-known Greek basketball player Nikos Galis.

Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall is notable for its distinctive A-frame roof that features four huge pillars, each of which is 35 meters tall, that stand 108 meters apart from each other. According to the Greek Ministry of Sports, it is the largest indoor sporting arena of its kind in the world. The arena is also constructed in a unique way so that an abundant amount of natural light comes into the arena during the day.

The arena seats up to 17,600 for gymnastics events, although only 12,500 seats were made publicly available for the gymnastics competition at the 2004 Olympics. It seats up to 18,989 for basketball games, which includes 18,500 regular seats for the fans, 300 seats for the media members, and 189 seats for VIPs.

A large scale arena renovation was completed in 2004, for the 2004 Summer Olympics. The arena was then renovated again in 2016.

The arena was used for artistic gymnastics and trampolining, and also hosted the finals of the basketball matches at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Renovation of the building for the Olympics was completed on June 30, 2004, and it was officially reopened on August 10, 2004, shortly before the beginning of the games.


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