ATHENS, May 9: The Athens Olympic Village, which will host 16,000 athletes and their coaches, will open on July 23 three weeks before the Games, according to a confidential report obtained by Reuters on Sunday.

One of the Games' most secure zones, the Olympic Village, with its 2,292 air conditioned apartments, is the biggest single Olympics project in Athens, and the centre point for athletes and their coaches during the Aug 13-29 Games.

"The scale of this project is massive," the report said. "The services we offer must have an effect on athletes' disposition and hence on their performances." Construction of the village is complete but work is continuing to transform what was a site for three years into a lush suburb.

The Village, will have a staff of about 10,000 people including volunteers, and will operate 24 hours a day for 71 days until Oct 1, also taking in the Paralympic Games in September.

It is one of the best guarded Olympic venues. Even the US basketball team will stay at the village for the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Located at the foot of Mount Parnitha, 23kms north of Athens, a speedy road link is available to the main Olympic complex.

With a population the size of a small town, the village will also feature the capital's only places of worship for all five main religions, accommodating Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews and Hindus. There will be places for private prayer and meditation as well as religious counselling and advice, the report said.

Calls for the construction of a separate mosque in Athens to accommodate the thousands of Muslims living in Greece and Muslim visitors during the Games have not been accepted.

The Village has its own athletics centre with fully equipped gymnasiums, sports halls, an Olympic-size swiming pool, various sports courts and facilities for track and field athletes. Parts of the nearby Dekelia airbase will also be use as training facilities. -Reuters