With the signing of the cooperation agreement between the Mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, and the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, Spyros Capralos, a decisive step has been taken towards the revival of the emblematic Olympic Swimming Pool of Athens in the Zappeion district.

Under the agreement signed at the premises, the swimming pool will be transferred for 25 years from the HOC to the Municipality of Athens, which undertakes its upgrade, renovation and re operation after 11 years of inactivity, to meet the needs of the city’s residents and athletes.

The Municipality of Athens and the Hellenic Olympic Committee will jointly undertake the full restoration of the entire infrastructure. The Municipality will be responsible for the financing and implementation of the project, which provides, among other things, energy upgrade and renovation of the premises. The works will be completed by 2026. The swimming pool will then be used five hours a day for the needs of the national teams, while the rest of the day will be available for all citizens.

Hellenic Olympic Committee President Spyros Capralos said, “It is a great day for this historic swimming pool and for the Hellenic swimming, as after many years of inactivity and abandonment, thanks to the cooperation with the Municipality of Athens, we have signed the agreement to renovate the facilities. Today, the Municipality of Athens approved the topographical survey that identifies the Hellenic Olympic Committee as the owner of the site, and we can now lay the foundation stone for the reconstruction of the swimming pool, a swimming pool that will be renovated with modern technology and, above all, with green energy standards.

The residents of Athens will now have a swimming pool in the center of the city that meets their needs and expectations, and at the same time our national teams will have the opportunity to train in improved facilities for the benefit of Greek swimming. We sincerely thank the Municipality and the Mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, and we will stand by them during this period, hoping that the project will be completed in 2026.”

The Athens Olympic Swimming Pool was inaugurated in 1940 and was the first swimming pool in Greece to have Olympic dimensions. The Panhellenic Swimming Championships were held here. Until then, all swimming competitions were held at the quays of the ports. Since 1940 and for many decades, all the athletes of the national team and many swimming clubs of Athens and Piraeus trained in the only Olympic swimming pool of Athens, the so-called Zappeion Swimming pool. In 2012, the swimming pool stopped its operation due to lack of funds and technical issues.