The gates to OAKA, the main Olympic sports complex, are kept locked and under guard. So a group of Canadian tourists has no option but to shoot pictures of the soaring blue tinted canopy over the athletics stadium – a symbol of the 2004 Games – from outside the wire mesh fence.

Next month the complex, which was given a €200m makeover by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava for the Olympics, will be open to the public at weekends.