A Race to the Finish

03/08/2004

Lowara helps Athens build the infrastructure for the 2004 Olympic Games: August 13 - 29

The biggest race at the 2004 Olympic Games was the one to complete all facilities in time for the events. As the world watched, the city of Athens, Greece, put on a late rush to renovate existing sports facilities, install roofs on new stadiums and repave the marathon route.

It was a massive undertaking, akin to building a small city-within-a-city, and while Athens won't make all the deadlines (as evidenced by the roofless swimming stadium), the city seems poised to surprise skeptics and live up to the promise of its Mayor Dora Bakoyanni who said, "In Greece, we are like Sirtaki dance. We start very slowly, and then we speed up. And then at the end, you cannot even follow how quickly it goes."

Lowara, part of ITT Industries, served as Athens' "dancing partners" - providing products, people and expertise to help the city achieve its onrushing Olympic goals.

Lowara, is helping to provide fresh water to the Olympic complex. Its variable-speed water booster sets are helping to pump water under the streets to the stadiums and building in the Olympic village. Lowara's Hydrovar technology allows the pump speeds to change with the system requirements - saving energy and requiring less infrastructure building, which is critical with time running tight.

It's the second Summer Games in a row to use Lowara's multi-stage pumps and Hydrovar variable speed devices to provide water to the tidal wave of visitors. In addition, Lowara's pumps are being used in the design of the many municipal foundations installed throughout Athens.

ITT-Lowara (www.lowara.com), headquarters of "Residential and Commercial Water - EMEA" part of the ITT Corporation and located in Montecchio Maggiore, Vicenza - Italy, is a leader in the manufacture of hydraulic pumps and water handling and control systems. It has 1.348 employees in Europe, 771 operating in Italy. In 2007 its consolidated sales totalled about 284 million euro, or over 390 million dollars.
ITT Corporation (www.itt.com) is a diversified high-technology engineering and manufacturing company dedicated to creating more livable environments, enabling communications and providing protection and safety. The company plays an important role in vital markets including water and fluids management, global defense and security, and motion and flow control. ITT employs approximately 40,000 people serving customers in more than 50 countries. Headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., the company generated $9 billion in 2007 sales.