The Athens Olympic equestrian complex

Yesterday I wrote about the history of the Greek racing and the establishments in which it used to and takes place. I wrote that today the only race course in Greece is situated in the super modern centre in Markopoulo, 8km from Athens International Airport.

Today, after a visit to the official website of Markopoulo I’m writing about the entire equestrian complex that accommodates the race course, together with other equestrian sports.

So, according to the website, the entire complex is 940,000 square metres in size. It accommodates a plethora of arenas, including

1. The main, sodded show jumping arena (90 x 120m)
2. The main, sand dressage arena (80 x 40m)
3. One sodded show jumping arena for the athletes’ final training (80 x 40m)
4. One sand dressage arena for the athletes’ final training (60 x 20m)
5. One indoor sand arena for training (70 x 30m)
6. One sodded warm-up/training arena (90 x 90m)
7. Two warm-up/training sand arenas (90 x 45m)
8. Three sand warm-up/training arenas for dressage (60 x 20m)
9. One cross-country trail, with about 35 obstacles (5,710m)
10. One warm-up/training area for equestrian triathlon

In 2003, the Hellenic Equestrian Federation carried out the test competition Athens CCI* and since then they have organized all their international competitions and world cups in the equestrian complex of Markopoulo. The complex was also included in the Athens 2004 Olympics.