The , officially known as the '''Games of the XXVIII Olympiad''', were held in
Athens ,
Greece , over a period of 17 days from
August 13 to
August 29 ,
2004 . Planners expected 10,500 athletes (in fact 11,099 competed) and 5,500 team officials from 202
Countries . Athens 2004 marked the first time since the
1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a
National Olympic Committee were in attendance. There were a total of 301 medal events from 28 different
Sport s.
See Also: 2004 Summer Olympic bids
Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in
Lausanne in
05 September 1997 , after surprisingly losing the bid to organize the
1996 Summer Olympics to
Atlanta nearly seven years before, on
18 September 1990 , during the 96th IOC Session in
Tokyo . Athens, under the direction of
Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki , pursued another bid, this time for the right to organize the 2004 games. The success of Athens in securing the 2004 Games were based largely on Athens' appeal to Olympic history and the emphasis that it placed on the pivotal role that
Greece and
Athens played in the promotion of the Olympic Movement.
After leading all voting rounds, Athens easily defeated ;
Lille ;
Rio De Janeiro ;
San Juan ,
Seville ; and
Saint Petersburg .
NBC Universal paid the IOC $793 million for U.S. broadcast rights , the most paid by any country. It was the first Olympics since
NBC had merged with
Vivendi Universal Entertainment; the merger, along with the acquisitions of the
Bravo and
Telemundo networks, made it possible for the network to broadcast over 1200 hours of coverage during the games, triple what was broadcast in the U.S.
Four Years Earlier .
Following the
September 11, 2001 Attacks , concerns about
Terrorism were much higher. Greece increased the budget for security at the Olympics to €970 million (US$1.2 billion). Approximately 70,000 police officers patrolled Athens and the Olympic venues during the Olympics.
NATO and the
European Union also provided minor
support, after Athens asked for co-operation.
When the
International Olympic Committee expressed its concern over the progress of construction work of the new Olympic venues, a new Organizing Committee was formed in
2000 under President
Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki . In the years leading up to the Games, Athens was transformed into a city that uses state-of-the-art technology in transportation and urban development. Some of the most modern sporting venues in the world were built to host the 2004 Olympic Games.
By late
March 2004 , some Olympic projects were still behind schedule, and Greek authorities announced that a roof would no longer be constructed over the main
Swimming venue. The main Olympic Stadium, the designated facility for the opening and closing ceremonies, was completed only two months before the games opened, with the sliding over of a futuristic glass roof designed by
Spanish architect
Santiago Calatrava . Other facilities, such as the
Streetcar line linking the airport, the stadium and the city, were largely unfinished just two months before the games. The subsequent pace of preparation, however, made the rush to finish the Athens venues one of the tightest in Olympics history. The Greeks, unperturbed, maintained that they would make it all along. By August 2004, the Olympic Stadium was officially completed and opened, and the Athens Tram and Light Rail became operational. The upgrades to the Athens Ring Road were also delivered just in time.
Toured The World .]]
The lighting ceremony of the
Olympic Flame took place on
March 25 in
Ancient Olympia . For the first time ever, the flame travelled around the world in a
Relay to former Olympic cities and other large cities, before returning to Greece.
EMI released ''Unity'', the official
Pop Album of the Athens Olympics, in the leadup to the Olympics. It features contributions from
Sting ,
Lenny Kravitz ,
Moby ,
Destiny's Child ,
Hikaru Utada and
Avril Lavigne . EMI has pledged to donate US$180,000 from the album to
UNICEF's HIV /
AIDS program in
Sub-Saharan Africa .
At least 14 people died during the work on the facilities. Most of these people were not from Greece.
Before the games, Greek hotel staff staged a series of one-day
Strikes over wage disputes. They had been asking for a significant raise for the period covering the event being staged.
Paramedic s and
Ambulance drivers had also been protesting, as they wanted the same Olympic bonuses promised to their security force counterparts.
available at the Games: Athiná ]]
Since the
1968 Winter Olympics in
Grenoble ,
France it has been the tradition to have a mascot for the games; for 2004, the official mascots were sister and brother, ''
Athiná '' and ''
Phévos '' (pronounced in Greek, Athina and Fivos), named after Athena,
The Goddess Of Wisdom, Strategy And War , and Phoebos,
The God Of Light And Music , respectively. They were inspired by the ancient
Daidala which were dolls that had religious links as well as being toys.
For the first time, major broadcasters were allowed to serve video coverage of the Olympics over the
Internet , provided that they restricted this service geographically, to protect broadcasting contracts in other areas. For instance, the
BBC made their complete live coverage available to UK high-speed Internet customers for free; customers in the
U.S. were only able to receive delayed excerpts.
The International Olympic Committee forbade Olympic athletes, as well as coaches, support personnel and other officials, from setting up specialized
Weblogs and/or other websites for covering their personal perspective of the games. They were not allowed to post audio, video, or photos that they had taken. An exception was made if an athlete already has a personal website that was not set up specifically for the Games.
See Also: 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
was held on
August 13 . As part of the theatrics, the
Olympic Rings are seen burning in a pool of water.]]
The Opening Ceremony held on
August 13 ,
2004 began with a twenty eight (the number of the Olympiads up to then) second countdown paced by the sounds of an amplified heartbeat. As the countdown was completed, fireworks rumbled and illuminated the skies overhead as fire erupted from a reflecting pool in the middle of the stadium creating a burning image of the Olympic rings. The Opening Ceremony was a pageant of traditional Greek culture and history hearkening back to its mythological beginnings. The program began as a young Greek boy sailed into the stadium on a 'paper-ship' waving the host nation's flag to haunting music by
Hadjidakis and then a
Centaur appeared, followed by a gigantic head of a
Cycladic figurine which eventually broke into many pieces symbolising the Greek islands. Underneath the cycladic head was a hellenistic representation of the human body, reflecting the concept and belief in perfection reflected in Greek art. A man was seen balancing on a hovering cube symbolising man's eternal 'split' between passion and reason followed by a couple of young lovers playfully chasing each other while the god
Eros was hovering above them. There followed a very colourful float parade chronicling Greek history from the ancient
Minoan Civilization to modern times.
Although the
National Broadcasting Company in the United States presented the entire opening ceremony from start to finish, a topless
Minoan goddess was shown only briefly, the breasts having been pixelated digitally in order to avoid potential fines by the
Federal Communications Commission . Also, lower frontal nudity of men dressed as ancient Greek statues was shown in such a way that the area below the waist was cut off by the bottom of the screen. In most other countries presenting the broadcast, there was no
Censorship of the ceremony.
at the Opening Ceremony.]]
Following the artistic performances, a parade of nations entered the stadium with over 10,500 athletes walking under the banners of 202 nations. The nations were arranged according to
Greek Alphabet making
Finland , the
Philippines , and
Hong Kong, China among the last to enter the stadium. Based on audience reaction, the emotional high point of the parade was the entrance of the delegation from
Afghanistan which had been absent from the Olympics and had female competitors for the first time. The
Iraq i delegation also stirred emotions. Also recognized was the symbolic unified march of athletes from
North Korea and
South Korea under the
Korea n
Unification Flag . The country of
Kiribati made a debut appearance at these games and
East Timor made a debut appearance under its own flag. Due to the perceived unpopularity of the American-led
Invasion Of Iraq among Greeks, it had been expected that audience members would protest the war during the entrance of the American delegation into the stadium by booing; however, the roar of cheers and applause the Americans received was among the loudest of the evening.After the Parade of Nations, during which the Dutch
DJ Tiësto provided the music, the
Iceland ic singer
Björk performed. In this occasion, in observance of the tradition that the delegation of Greece opens the parade and the host nation closes it, the Greek flag bearer opened the parade and all the Greek delegation closed the parade.
The Opening Ceremony culminated in the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron by 1996 Gold Medalist Windsurfer
Nikolaos Kaklamanakis . The gigantic cauldron, which was styled after the Athens 2004 Olympic Torch, pivoted down to be lit by the 35 year-old, before slowly swinging up and lifting the flame high above the stadium. Following this, the stadium found itself at the centre of a rousing fireworks spectacular.
The Games were concluded on
August 29 ,
2004 . The closing ceremony was held at the
Athens Olympic Stadium , where the Games had been opened 16 days earlier. Around 70,000 people gathered in the stadium to watch the ceremony.
A significant part of the closing ceremony was the exchange of the Olympic flag of the Antwerp games between the mayor of Athens and the mayor of Beijing, host city of the next Olympic games. After the flag exchange a presentation from the Beijing delegation presented a glimpse into Chinese culture for the world to see.
The ceremony ended with a variety of musical performances by Greek singers, including
Anna Vissi ,
Sakis Rouvas ,
Eleftheria Arvanitaki ,
Alkistis Protopsalti ,
Marinella ,
George Dalaras ,
Dimitra Galani , and
Haris Alexiou , as thousands of athletes carried out humorous and symbolic displays on the stadium floor. Before that, the
Twelve Girls Band from China sang
Mo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) and the medal ceremony for the last event of the Olympiad, the
Men's Marathon , was conducted, with
Stefano Baldini from
Italy as the winner.
A flag-bearer from each nation's delegation then entered along the stage, followed by the competitors ''en masse'' on the floor.
Short speeches were presented by
Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki , chief Greek organizer of the Games, and by President Dr.
Jacques Rogge of the
IOC , in which he described the Athens Olympics as "unforgettable, dream Games".
It should be noted that Dr. Rogge had previously declared he would be breaking with tradition in his closing speech as President of the IOC and that he would never use the words of his predecessor
Juan Antonio Samaranch , who used to always say 'these were the best ever games' (with the notable exception of
Atlanta 1996 ). Dr. Rogge had described
Salt Lake City 2002 as "suberb games" and in turn would continue after Athens 2004 and describe
Turin 2006 as "truly magnificent games".
The national anthems
Of Greece and
China were played in a handover ceremony as both nations' flags were raised. The
Mayor Of Athens ,
Dora Bakoyianni , passed the Olympic Flag to the
Mayor Of Beijing ,
Wang Qishan . After a short cultural performance by Chinese actors, dancers, and musicians directed by eminent Chinese director
Zhang Yimou , Rogge declared the 2004 Olympic Games closed.
A young Greek girl, Fotini Papaleonidopoulou, lit a symbolic lantern with the
Olympic Flame and passed it on to other children before "extinguishing" the flame in the cauldron by blowing a puff of air.
The sports featured at the 2004 Summer Olympics are listed below. Officially there were 28 sports as swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo are classified by the IOC as disciplines within the sport of
Aquatics , and wheelchair racing was a demonstation sport. For the first time, the wrestling category featured women's wrestling and in the fencing competition women competed in the
Sabre . American
Kristin Heaston , who led off the qualifying round of women's shotput became the first woman to compete at the ancient site of Olympia but Cuban
Yumileidi Cumba became the first woman to win a gold medal there.
The demonstration sport of wheelchair racing was a joint Olympic/
Paralympic event, allowing a Paralympic event to occur within the Olympics, and for the future, opening up
Wheelchair Racing to the able-bodied. The
2004 Summer Paralympics were also held in Athens, from
September 17 to
28 .
See Also: :Category:Competitors at the 2004 Summer Olympics
All National Olympic Committees participated in the Athens Games as was the case in 1996. Three of which were new NOCs created since 1996. Thus the total participating NOCs increased to 202 from 199.
;Other country groupings:
