Christina Fotinopoulou was editor-in-chief of the Athens 2004 Olympic web site. She joined the web operation in June 2002, and one of her first tasks was to secure more backing for the site from the International Olympic Committee. "It was a very complicated project," Fotinopoulou says. "We had to convince the board that we needed a strong web site, but they would ask why, when lots of other sites [and media] already carried the results."

The experience of some previous Olympic hosts, such as Salt Lake City, had soured opinions of web sites, Fotinopoulou says.

"Salt Lake showed that the games were expensive, and the site became commercialised. This commercialisation proved problematic and created issues with the International Olympic Committee, so we had to focus on the human element. We had to convince them that the hosts needed to have an organic portal in the Olympics. We really needed a web site."

The official site provided a number of benefits, according to Fotinopoulou, including the ability to better orchestrate the flow of information. "The organising committee really believed in the dream of having all of the relevant Olympic material in one place," she says. "Giving all the information from one source ensures that what goes around is always the official line. The site was to become the source for all of the Games' corporate messages."

The PR side of the site was particularly busy in the run-up to the Games. Fotinopoulou says the hosts faced a lot negative press that raised doubts about the readiness of the city. The web site was used to present a more upbeat picture. "We could include information about what roads were ready, and eventually the call centres were using it for all their information, such as how to get to the venues and what you were allowed to take with you," says Fotinopoulou.

Initially, the hosts did not believe that the site could be used for ticket sales and advertising for jobs, but their doubts were overcome.

"Sixty percent of all applications, and almost half of all ticket sales were made online," according to Fotinopoulou. She adds that this was particularly impressive given the poor levels on internet connectivity in Greece.

Working with a Vignette content management system allowed the editors to create new applications, and new areas of the site as required. By the time the games started, the site's results service was being updated every 30 seconds, and it was possible to make fast changes to presentation. For example, if a user emailed asking where certain information could be found, the web site team were able to quickly alter the site to make the information more prominent. "We forgot stupid things," admits Fotinop- oulou. "But the important thing is how fast you respond." Forty-six people were responsible for maintaining some 40,000 pages.

The fact that the application was easy to use was an attraction for Fotinopoulou, who had deployed Vignette tools before. "We were the communications team, not the IT team. If a tool is frustrating it won't get used, and if it had been hard to use and build pages we could not have had competent writers, but would have had to use technical people. It would have been a disaster."

Ultimately, she says, "I really owe the success of the site to these people and to the technology."

Summary

Christina Fotinopoulou was responsible for overseeing all services relating to the official Athens 2004 Olympics site.

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She puts the success of the site down to securing solid board backing, online ticket sales, and the use of Vignette content management tools.