Summer Olympics 2000 Pyrgiotis replaces fired Liaskas

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Tuesday, October 24
Pyrgiotis replaces fired Liaskas
Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece -- Greece's premier hired a replacement for a senior Athens 2004 Olympics organizing committee official who was fired last week after trading insults with a minister.

Ioannis Pyrgiotis will take over as a 2004 executive director from Costas Liaskas, who was fired Oct. 18 after a public exchange of thinly veiled insults with the public works minister over who controls major construction projects for the games.

Pyrgiotis is a member of the organizing committee's 17-member board of directors, and also served on the bid committee. He was a consultant to the public works minister from 1983 to 1988.

Liaskas' firing caused a crisis which once again cast a shadow over Athens' preparations for the 2004 Games. It came shortly after Premier Costas Simitis asked organizers and the government to put aside their differences and focus on preparing for the Olympics.

Some International Olympic Committee members have warned that delays in preparations are endangering the Athens Games. IOC member Dick Pound of Canada said the next few weeks and months will be "critical."

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