2004 Summer Olympics

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Template:Olympics infobox The 2004 Summer Olympics, 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 sports.

Contents 1 Medal count table 2 Bid and preparations 3 Venue construction crisis 4 Mascots 5 Online coverage 6 Opening ceremony 7 Closing ceremony 8 Sports 9 Participating NOCs 10 Venues 10.1 Competition venues 10.2 Football (soccer) venues 10.3 Non-competition venues 11 Notes and References 12 See also 13 External links

Medal count table

2004 Summer Olympics medal count					Image:Olympic rings.svg
Pos	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States	35	40	27	102
2	Image:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China	32	17	14	63
3	Image:Flag of Russia.svg Russia	27	27	38	92
4	Image:Flag of Australia.svg Australia	17	16	16	49
5	Image:Flag of Japan.svg Japan	16	9	12	37
6	Image:Flag of Germany.svg Germany	14	16	19	49
7	Image:Flag of France.svg France	11	9	13	33
8	Image:Flag of Italy.svg Italy	10	11	11	32
9	Image:Flag of South Korea.svg South Korea	9	12	9	30
10	Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain	9	9	12	30
Template:See

Bid and preparations

Image:Greece 2004 Olympics flame ceremony DSC04251.jpg Template:Main 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 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 PetersburgTemplate:Ref.

2004 Summer Olympics bidding results
Bid	NOC Name	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5
Athens 2004	Template:GRE	32	-	38	52	66
Rome 2004	Template:ITA	23	-	28	35	41
Cape Town 2004	Template:RSA	16	62	22	20	-
Stockholm 2004	Template:SWE	20	-	19	-	-
Buenos Aires 2004	Template:ARG	16	44	-	-	-

NBC Universal paid the IOC $793 million for U.S. broadcast rights Template:Ref, 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.

Venue construction crisis

Image:Athens 2004 Main Olympic Stadium.jpg 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.

Image:Route of Olympic Flame Worldwide.gif 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. Template:Ref

At least 14 people died during the work on the facilities. Most of these people were not from Greece.Template:Ref

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. Paramedics and ambulance drivers had also been protesting, as they wanted the same Olympic bonuses promised to their security force counterparts.

Mascots

Image:Athens athena model.jpg

Image:Athens athena toy.jpg

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.

Online coverage

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. Template:Ref

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. Template:Ref

Opening ceremony

Template:Main Image:Opening Ceremony Athens 2004 Fire rings.jpg Image:Opening Ceremony Athens 2004 Goddess.jpg 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.

Image:Olympic flame at opening ceremony.jpg 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 Iraqi delegation also stirred emotions. Also recognized was the symbolic unified march of athletes from North Korea and South Korea under the Korean 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.Template:RefTemplate:RefTemplate:RefAfter the Parade of Nations, during which the Dutch DJ Tiësto provided the music, the Icelandic 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.

Closing ceremony

Image:Athens 2004 Olympics Closing ceremony.jpg 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.

Sports

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.

Archery Athletics (track and field) Badminton Baseball Basketball Boxing Canoeing Cycling Diving Equestrian Fencing Football (soccer) Gymnastics Handball Hockey Judo

Modern Pentathlon Rowing Sailing Shooting Softball Swimming Synchronized Swimming Table Tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Water Polo Weightlifting Wheelchair Racing (demonstration sport) Wrestling

Template:See also

Participating NOCs

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.

Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China (mainland China)

Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) Colombia Comoros Congo DR Congo Republic Cook Islands Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gabon The Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Great Britain Greece (host) Grenada Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras

Hong Kong, China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati* Korea, South Korea, North Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia, FYRO Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova

Monaco Mongolia Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Palau* Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines São Tomé and Príncipe Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia-Montenegro

Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste* Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands, US Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

- * New NOC since 1996.

Other country groupings

• International organisations
• European Union
• Central Asia

Venues

Competition venues

Athens Olympic Sports Complex Agios Kosmas Olympic Sailing Centre Ano Liosia Olympic Hall Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Sports Complex Galatsi Olympic Hall Goudi Olympic Complex Helliniko Olympic Complex Marathon, Greece (Starting place of the Marathon events) Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre

Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre Nikaia Olympic Weightlifting Hall Panathinaiko Stadium Parnitha Olympic Mountain Bike Venue Peace and Friendship Stadium Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre Vouliagmeni Olympic Centre The ancient stadium at Olympia (Shot put)

Football (soccer) venues

• Kaftanzoglio Stadium, Thessaloniki
• Karaiskaki Stadium, Athens
• Pampeloponnissiako Stadium, Patra
• Pankretio Stadium, Heraklion
• Panthessaliko Stadium, Volos

Non-competition venues

• Eleftherios Venizelos Athens International Airport
• International Broadcast Centre IBC
• Main Press Centre
• Olympic Village
• Hellenikon Depot (Press Transportation)
• Dekelia Depot (Athletes Transportation)
• Vari Depot (Judges/Referees Transportation)

Notes and References

1. Template:Note International Olympic Committee - Athen 2004 - Election
2. Template:Note NBC Universal rings in Athens profits by Krysten Crawford, CNNMoney.com, August 30, 2004.
3. Template:Note Unity Olympics Album. The Star Online eCentral.
4. Template:Note Workers in peril at Athens sites, BBC News Online, July 23, 2004.
5. Template:Note http://www.iht.com/articles/533020.html (dead link)
6. Template:Note http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,64650,00.html (dead link)
7. Template:Note Athens lights up the Game by Andrew Fraser and Matt Davis, BBC Sport Online, August 14, 2004.
8. Template:Note http://www.indystar.com/articles/4/170267-4554-036.html (dead link)
9. Template:Note U.S. cheered at Games opening ceremonies, Reuters (hosted by SI.com), August 14, 2004.

See also

• Olympic Games
• 2004 Olympic Torch Relay
• International Olympic Committee
• IOC country codes
• 2004 Summer Paralympics
• Scandals of the 2004 Summer Olympics
• World records at the 2004 Summer Olympics
• Olympic records at the 2004 Summer Olympics
• Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki

External links

• IOC page on Athens
• Athens 2004 Olympic Games coverage by Community-online.com
• Costs of hosting the 2004 Olympics
• Medal picks by Associated Press beat writers
• Pictures from the opening ceremony
• Media coverage:LookSmart category, BBC, CBC NBC, and Seven Network
• Medal count analyses: Medal count by population and Relative Performance Index

Olympic Games Template:Border Olympic sports Olympic medalists Participating NOCs Olympic symbols Medal counts		Summer Olympic Games 1896, 1900, 1904, 19061, 1908, 1912, (1916)2, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940)2, (1944)2, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020
		Winter Olympic Games 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940)2, (1944)2, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
		Athens 2004 — Torino 2006 — Beijing 2008 — Vancouver 2010

Template:Link FA

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