ATHENS, Greece — They dreamed of better lives in the West — and their journeys ended in an unlikely spot: a makeshift tent city built on a baseball field where Olympians once roamed.

When the asylum-seekers and refugees came to Greece in their thousands in 2015, the Athens Summer Games were a distant memory. Some 11 years after the country hosted the games at an estimated cost of $11 billion, many of the venues had been abandoned. Many still remain derelict.

But as Greece struggled to cope with the numbers of people arriving on its shores and crossing its border with Turkey, it built a camp for migrants inside the former Olympic baseball stadium.

The asylum-seekers lived on the field where Yuli Gurriel, now with the Houston Astros, and Nick Markakis, who later won two Gold Gloves and is now an outfielder with the Atlanta Braves, competed for Olympic medals in 2004.

Before being shut down last year, the camp was home to as many as 5,000 people.

A woman carries her baby at the former Olympic baseball complex in Athens, which was used as a shelter for refugees and migrants. Michalis Karagiannis / Reuters file

The Olympic complex turned refugee camp in the Athens suburb of Elliniko was by no means a pleasant place, and, in one way or another, most of its former residents remain in limbo. Here are some of their stories:

Rock bottom

“Living in Elliniko was not like living,” said Samiullah Barez, 27, who fled the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif in late 2015. Barez says he had been threatened by the Taliban.

“I wanted to work for the government and I was drinking alcohol at a few parties,” the former law student said, explaining how his run-ins with the Taliban started. His best friend being killed in a bombing was the last straw. He left the country.

Samiullah Barez. Anna Pantelia / for NBC News

But on arriving in Greece he was shocked by the conditions asylum-seekers were forced to live in.

In Elliniko, the former law student had to share a tent with seven other single men, a fact he chose not to share with his parents. “In Afghanistan we have lots of poor people but they didn’t live in tents,” he said.

Even as a strapping young man, Barez felt unsafe. “There were crazy people, mad people. Some were praying, some were dancing, some were pregnant, some were drinking. It was a very dangerous and strange life.”

Yuli Gurriel, who now plays for the Houston Astros, helped Cuba win an Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Athens Summer Games. Bob Levey / Getty Images

Knife crime was prevalent, and on one occasion, he said, there were eight fights in one night.

But worst of all, Barez said he struggled with boredom.

He formed a volleyball team to help cope. “We were 10 guys, we would exercise together and organize matches in the camp. It was my love,” he said.

When Elliniko closed in June 2017, Barez was taken to an official camp north of Athens. Here he started learning Greek, and eventually the U.N. helped him find a home.

He works as a tailor, a skill he learnt in Afghanistan, while teaching the craft on the side. At 3.52 euros ($4.33) an hour, his pay is below the Greek national living wage.

Barez now lives with five other single men in a three-bedroom apartment in Athens. The building is charming, with a sweeping marble staircase and rickety old elevator. The apartment itself has simple rooms with high ceilings, while in the foyer there is a yellow parakeet in a matching cage.

Cuba celebrates its 6-2 win over Australia in the gold-medal game during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. Arko Datta / Reuters file

Barez says he is happy. “Now I have a good life here,” he said. “I have many friends.”

While he even had a Greek girlfriend last year, Barez says he still does not feel entirely integrated.

“Greek people don’t trust people very easily,” he said. “I still belong to the refugees. … I want to have friends that trust me.”

Born in a tent

Fatima Mohammadi, 22, has only bad memories from her time living in the Elliniko camp.

An Afghan native, she went into labor while living in a tent that had been pitched on the field in the baseball stadium.

When her daughter was born, the doctors said she was too unwell to leave the hospital. The newborn was kept under observation for almost a month.