Project: fall protection systems for the Olympic Stadium, Athens

The Olympic Sports Complex in Athens was partially reconstructed for the Olympic Games based on the design of the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
This complex is located in Maroussi, which is a suburb of Athens 10 kilometres northeast of the city centre and 14.5 kilometres from the Olympic village. The Olympic stadium, "Spyridon Louis", is one of the five places where competitive events were held.
The stadium was already built in 1980 and, before the Olympic Games, was used as a venue for mega events.

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Reconstruction

The stadium was reconstructed for 156 million euros in the run-up to the summer Olympic Games 2004. A glass roof weighing 17000 tons was erected during this reconstruction project. At 25000 m², it is the largest glass roof in the world and covers 95% of the seats. It was completed on 30 July 2004 shortly before the official reopening. Each arch of the roof structure has a length of 304 m and a maximum height of 72 m at its centre. The seating capacity before the renovation work was 74767. The roof today covers 71030 seats.
Apart from the opening and the closing ceremonies, track-and-field events and the final of the men's football tournament were held here during the Olympic Games.

The roof must be safe to tread on for maintenance activities, particularly on floodlights. Service personnel can access the catwalks of the light sources installed at the edge of the roof through multiple hatches near the centre of the roof. Owing to the curvature of the roof, not only is there a risk of falling over from the edges, but also a risk of slipping on the paths away from the falling edge. The operating company therefore decided to install horizontal lifelines. A discreet solution was sought owing to the unique architecture of the structure. The options to fix the fall arrest system were limited and long stretches had to be safeguarded. The obvious choice was Xenon from Söll.

The Xenon anchorage device was provided and designed by ACTIVE POINT S.A. It was assembled and installed in June 2004 by NO LIMITS, a specialist in the field of working at heights.

Eight to nine cable systems having a total length of 2600 metres were installed on each of the roof halves. Beams of grids proved to be suitable to attach end and intermediate brackets. The structure of catwalks, which is twisted at some points, could be accessed using Xenon curve brackets without any problem.
The user must wear a full body harness and use a lanyard (length 2-3 m) with a Xenon shuttle to connect to the steel rope. Thanks to an opening mechanism, the Xenon shuttle can be detached anywhere from the rope. This ensures a smooth switchover from one system to another.
All work could be completed within 3-4 weeks and on time before the inauguration of the Games.

Project report: Xenon for the Monument of the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig