Inside deserted £8billion Athens Olympics stadiums with venues left to rot since 2004 Games

IT WAS once the stage of an iconic Olympic Games in an ancient city.

But less than 20 years on, the abandoned site of the Athens 2004 Games is a complete eyesore that has been left to rot.

Kelly Holmes grabbed TWO golds in the famous athletics stadium while Chris Hoy starred in the velodrome and Team GB's sailors and rowers delivered the goods on the water once again.

Greece spent a whopping £8billion to bring the Olympics back to the historic home in Athens.

However, large parts of the site now lie in complete disarray.

The paintwork and colour have been replaced by overgrown weeds and graffiti in a sad state of affairs.

The diving pool structure complete with the boards remains in place - as well as a Greek flag - but the pool is now empty and dirty, surrounded by safety barriers.

Elsewhere, the derelict kayak centre could be a scene from a spooky horror movie.

The curving barren chute looks more like a motorway junction than a piece of Olympic history.

And as for the baseball and softball stadium, the deserted venue has been left to rot.

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The stand looks on the brink of crumbling, the field could not even be used for farm animals.

Finally, many of the outdoor seats now have tufts of grass spurting between them - the only sign of life in the vicinity.

Athens is not the only city with abandoned Olympic venues.

The likes of Beijing 2008, Berlin 1936 and Sarajevo 1984 were all left unkept as nature took its course.