One person died in the construction of the Sydney Olympics and two in construction for the Barcelona Olympics.

"The human price is very high…" said the Greek Olympic Committee president. "This is something that I regret very much but in every country, in every workplace, accidents happen and people die."

The general secretary for the Olympic Games admitted he had no idea how many workers have died constructing the games. "We have accidents in the streets, we have accidents everywhere on a daily basis and we don't talk about this,” he said.

The general secretary of the Greek Construction Workers' Union believes there have been many more deaths on the supporting infrastructure — new roads, tram lines and metro, taking the actual death toll to 40.

"Men are being forced to work long shifts, up to 14 hours a day every day, in very hot temperatures and under constant pressure to complete construction work in time for the Olympics," he said.