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at the Opening Ceremony. The concept was the work of choreographer and director Dimitri Papaioannou , a Modern Dance artist.]] The Opening Ceremony of the ''' 2004 Summer Olympics ''' was held on August 13 , 2004 at the Olympic Stadium in Maroussi , Greece , a Suburb of Athens . 72,000 spectators attended the event, with approximately 15,000 athletes from 202 countries participating in the ceremony as well. It marked the first-ever international broadcast of High Definition Television , undertaken by NBC and the Japanese television station NHK . The Opening Ceremony began with a twenty-eight second countdown — one second per Olympics held since Athens last hosted the first modern games — paced by the sounds of an amplified Heartbeat played by two drummers, one inside the stadium, and one projected on the stadium screen from the ancient stadium of Olympia , the locale of the Olympic Games Of Antiquity . A blazing projectile, seemingly coming from the ancient stadium on the screen, lands on the flooded stadium floor igniting a burning image of the Olympic Rings . CELEBRATION OF GREEK CULTURE The Opening Ceremony was a pageantry of traditional Greek Culture and History harkening back to its Mythological beginnings, and viewed through the progression of Greek art. The dramatic music that accompanied the performances often combined drumming with the traditionally Greek sound of Bouzouki a. The program began with a drummer ensemble marching in the Athens Olympic Stadium playing their Typical Greek drummers : one of them in the Ancient Olympia Stadium playing his drum was shown in the screen of the stadium and one in the Athens Olympic Stadium to show a connection between the ancient past and the present. From the screen where from the images of the Olympia drummer are being shown, a lighter rocket simulating a comet crashes into the giant pool of the stadium drawing with its fire the Olympic Rings. This first act of the Opening Ceremony was called "Calling to the Ancient Olympic Spirits" by the organizers. Next, a young Greek boy sailed into the stadium on a giant paper boat waving The Host Nation's Flag , followed by the appearance of various characters from ancient Greek myths. A Centaur ; whose human and animal parts supposedly symbolize the duality of spirit and body, threw a spear of light into the center of the stadium, from which a giant statue that exemplified Cycladic art (and thus one of the first depictions of the human form in Greek art) emerged. With the use of Laser s, geometrical shapes and other scientific images (such as a stylistic representation of the Solar System ) were displayed on the figure's face. The statue then broke into pieces that floated away, and from within it emerged a smaller Kouros statue from the Archaic Period of Greek sculpture, which in turn broke apart to reveal the depiction of man in a sculpture of the Classical Period , symbolizing the dawn of individuality and extolling human scale, one of the principal themes of the 2004 Olympics. At the end of this sequence, a cube arises from the water, and a man starts slowly balancing himself on the rotating cube while representations of human kind's greatest achievements, contrasted to humanistic representations and images of men, women, and children of various ethnicities and ages, are projected onto the pieces of broken sculpture, which seem to be floating above the water. This last sequence is meant to symbolize the birth of logical thought, higher learning, and humanity finally making sense of the world in which it lives. After this sequence, the pieces of sculpture descend to the water, meant to symbolize the Greek Isles . In the next sequence, Eros , the Greek god of love, was introduced flying over a pair of lovers frolicking in the pool of water located in the center of the stadium. Throughout the rest of the scenes from history and mythology, the actor portraying Eros flew over the parade, occasionally touching or stepping on the floats moving beneath him. The pageantry following the statues and the introduction of Eros continued to portray scenes that showed the sequence of Greek civilisation through its art. The scenes started with the Minoan Civilisation , with scenes of bull-jumping, dolphins, and other elements that harkened back to the images in the Frescoes of Phaestos . The scenes then proceeded to the more stark art of the Mycenean Civilisation , followed by representations of the Classical period. A chariot carrying an actor portraying Alexander The Great introduced images from the Hellenistic Period , which in turn were followed by representations of Byzantine Art , the Greek War Of Independence , and lastly of 20th Century elements of Greek culture, such as the popular shadow-theatre figure Karagiozis , who is said to be a humorous and self-deprecating depiction (and parody) of Greek mentality. At the end of the parade, "Eros" lowered enough to help a woman remove her outer garment. Portrayed as pregnant and with belly glowing, the woman moved into the lake of water as the stadium's lights dimmed and lasers depicted stars reflected on the water. Slowly the stars rose around the woman, and moved to form a rapidly rotating DNA Double Helix , which is the basis for all life on the planet. Finally, all the characters of the parade began to walk inside the pool, around its center, mixing the past and the present in a single marching beat of the drums. The music began a crescendo with choruses, when all of a sudden an olive tree was lifted from the center of the pool - simbolising goddess Athena's preferred gift by the Greeks - land and food - over Poseidon's gift, the sea. At the music's climax, all the characters stopped and raised their arms as if worshipping the Tree, which was high above, surrounded also by the fragments of the deconstructed statues who resembled a mount. The Opening Ceremony was in many ways a success and featured never before seen technologies in used in a stadium including a giant pool that drained its water in 2 minutes. PARADE OF NATIONS In order to prepare for the entry of the athletes to the stadium, the giant pool of water that had been constructed on the floor of the stadium had to first be drained. 2,162,000 liters of water were drained from the stadium in a time period of 3 minutes, providing a dry, hard surface for the athletes to march and gather on. {Link without Title} Typically, Greece leads the Parade of Nations in any Olympics, with the host nation entering the stadium last. However, since Greece was the host nation, they went last, sending only their flag with the weightlifter Pyrros Dimas like the flag bearer into the stadium at the beginning of the parade, and the athletes themselves at the end of it. The debut position was given to Saint Lucia (Αγία Λουκία in Greek ), who led the Parade of Nations into the stadium. As the nations entered in Greek Alphabet ical order, Zimbabwe — which has usually been the penultimate nation, followed only by the host country — appeared in the middle of the parade. {Link without Title} Afghanistan 's entrance was an emotional highpoint of the parade, since Afghanistan had been absent from the Olympics since its Taliban regime took control of its government. The Iraq i delegation also stirred emotions because of the strong feelings of sympathy that exist among Greeks for this nation. Both teams were applauded and cheered loudly. Also recognized was the symbolic unified march of athletes from North Korea and South Korea , reminiscent of their march in the Parade of Nations at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. The nation of Kiribati made its debut Olympic appearance at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and East Timor marched under its own flag for the first time. Serbia And Montenegro appeared at the Olympics under the nation's new name for the first time since the country was officially renamed in 2003 ; it had previously been known as Yugoslavia . was the largest in attendance.]] Due to the unpopularity of the American-led Invasion Of Iraq among Greeks, it had been expected by the media that audience members would protest the war during the entrance of the American delegation into the stadium by booing; however, the Americans did receive a polite, if not a loud and enthusiastic applause from the audience, much to the pleasant surprise of news anchors covering the event. Apart from Greece, the Greek crowd reserved some of their loudest cheers for their fellow Greeks from Cyprus , Australia , home to many Greeks and site of the Previous Summer Olympics and Mediterranean countries such as France and Italy . The team from Palestine was also very warmly welcomed. Cheers greeted Portugal , the nation that hosted the Euro 2004 football tournament, which Greece won. Notable silences marked the entry of the Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia , with which Greece has a Dispute Over Its Name ; Israel ; and Turkey , reflecting the political sympathies of the Greek public. High-ranking politicians and royalty from all around the world applauded as the teams from their respective countries paraded by. Along with their spouses, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair , Crown Prince Haakon of Norway , and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (among others) each stood and applauded the teams from their countries. Past world leaders, including former U.S. President George H. W. Bush , also attended and applauded their national teams during the parade. SPEECHES TO ATHLETES & SPECTATORS After the Parade of Nations had concluded and the athletes were gathered in the center of the stadium, two short speeches were delivered in front of a model of an olive tree, a traditional Greek and Olympic symbol. Before the speeches were given, there was a segment honoring all previous Olympiads. A runner, carrying a flag with an image of an olive branch symbolizing not only peace, but Athens itself, lapped around the stadium, symbolically crossing tape dedicated to the previous 27 Olympiads. The runner even symbolically stumbled and stopped for the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games which were canceled due to world wars. The runner ended his run at the very center of the stadium, where Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and Rogge were under the olive tree, symbolizing the Olympic's current journey, from Athens to Athens. A similar event happened during the opening ceremonies last Olympics, the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , where banners of the previous 18 Winter Olympics entered Rice-Eccles Stadium before the parade of nations. The first speech came from in favor of Atlanta , Georgia for host of the 1996 Summer Olympics . Angelopoulos-Daskalaki was followed by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge , who delivered a speech encouraging participating athletes to resist the urge to use banned performance-enhancing substances and "show us that sport unites by overriding national, political, religious, and language barriers". Rogge then introduced Greek president Costis Stephanopoulos , who declared the games officially open. MUSIC DURING THE OPENING CEREMONY The music played during the performances portraying Greek history and mythology was conducted by Stavros Xarhakos . The songs played were instrumental in nature and many used traditional Greek instruments. Famous Greek artists such as Stavros Xarhakos (whose song "Zeimbekiko" was played), Manos Hadjidakis , Mikis Theodorakis and Konstantinos Bita , were included in the Olympic soundtrack. The whole music project was arranged by composer George Koumentakis, who had worked in the past several times with Papaioannou. During the Parade of Nations, Dutchman DJ Tiësto provided the music, becoming the first DJ ever to spin live at the Olympics. Iceland ic singer Björk performed the song "Oceania" from her album, '' Medúlla '', immediately after the Parade of Nations ended. While the song was being played, a large piece of fabric (which belonged to Björk's dress) was pulled over the heads of the athletes, who had gathered on the ground in the center of the stadium following their march around the stadium. At the conclusion of Björk's performance, a map of the world was projected on the fabric. After Björk's performance and the speeches delivered by organizers, Xarhakos returned to conduct a choir comprised of Greek children. TORCH RELAY & LIGHTING The Opening Ceremony culminated in the end of the torch relay, a tradition begun when Berlin hosted the games in 1936 . Before the torch came into the stadium, a three rings arose from the center of the stadium that simulated a globe. This segment preceding the torch's arrival honored the first global torch relay that was begun by Athens 2004. Actors, suspended on cables, started rising out of the crowd and ran towards the globe, carrying glowing sticks meant to simulate the Olympic torch. On the globe, the names of the cities which the torch visited were projected, and this segment ended with all the torchbearers floating mid-air coming together at the globe. After this segment ended, the lights were dimmed, and the sound of the heartbeat accompanied by thunderous cheers and applause met the torch's final arrival to the Olympic Stadium. Torch bearer Nikos Galis , considered to be the greatest Greek Basketball player of all time, entered the stadium first. The torch was passed on, in sequential order, to Greek Football legend Mimis Domazos , 1992 Hurdles champion Voula Patoulidou , 1996 Olympic Weightlifting champion Kakhi Kakhiashvili , and 1996 Olympic Gymnastics champion Ioannis Melissanidis . The torch was finally passed to the 1996 Olympic Sailing champion Nikolaos Kaklamanakis , who lit a giant cigar-shaped tapered column resembling a torch — not, as usual, a cauldron — to burn during the duration of the 2004 Summer Olympics. As Kaklamanakis ascended the steps to light the cauldron, the cauldron seemed to bow down to him, symbolizing that despite advance of technology, technology is still a creation and tool of humanity and that it was meant to serve humanity's needs. |
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