The , officially known as the '''Games of the XXVIII Olympiad''', were celebrated in
Athens ,
Greece , from
August 13 to
August 29 ,
2004 . 11,099 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 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 301 medal events in 28 different
Sports .
See Also: 2004 Summer Olympics medal count
These are the top ten
Nation s that won medals at these Games:
See Also: 2004 Summer Olympics 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 was 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
Rome in the 5th and final vote.
Cape Town ,
Stockholm , and
Buenos Aires , the three other cities that made the IOC shortlist, were eliminated in prior rounds of voting. Six other cities submitted applications, but their bids were dropped by the IOC in 1996. These cities were
Istanbul ,
Lille ,
Rio De Janeiro ,
San Juan ,
Seville , and
Saint Petersburg .
International Olympic Committee - Athens 2004 - Election
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 . Between all the NBC Universal networks (NBC,
CNBC ,
MSNBC ,
Bravo ,
USA Network &
Telemundo ) the games were on television 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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 at the time 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 it had initially proposed as an optional, non-vital addition to the Aquatics Center would no longer be built. 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 . The same architect also designed the
Velodrome and other facilities.
Other facilities, such as the (OAKA), and the sports complexes in Faliro and Helliniko.
Late July and early August witnessed the Athens Tram and Light Rail become operational, and these two systems finally connected Athens with its waterfront communities along the
Saronic Gulf , such as its port city of
Piraeus , Agios Kosmas (site of the sailing venue), Helliniko (the site of the old international airport which now contained the fencing venue, the canoe/kayak slalom course, the 14,500-seater indoor basketball arena, and the softball and baseball stadia), and Faliro (site of the taekwondo, handball, indoor volleyball, and beach volleyball venues, as well as the newly-reconstructed
Karaiskaki Stadium for football). The upgrades to the Athens Ring Road were also delivered just in time, as were the expressway upgrades connecting Athens proper with peripheral areas such as Markopoulo (site of the shooting and equestrian venues), the newly constructed
Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport , Schinias (site of the rowing venue), Maroussi (site of the OAKA), Parnitha (site of the Olympic Village), Galatsi (site of the rhythmic gymnastics and table tennis venue), and Vouliagmeni (site of the triathlon venue). The upgrades to the
Athens Metro were also completed, and the new lines became operational by mid-summer.
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 .
Unity Olympics Album . ''The Star Online eCentral.''
At least 14 people died during the work on the facilities. Most of these people were not from Greece.
Workers in peril at Athens sites , ''BBC News Online'', July 23, 2004.
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.
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.
