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[edit]Calendar
| ● | Opening ceremony | Event competitions | ● | Event finals | Exhibition gala | ● | Closing ceremony |
[edit]Highlights
- Greek sprinters Konstantinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou withdraw from the games after allegedly staging a motorcycle accident in order to avoid a drug test.
- World record holder and strong favourite Paula Radcliffe crashes out of the marathon in spectacular fashion, leaving Mizuki Noguchi to win the gold.
- While leading in the marathon with less than 10 kilometres to go, Brazilian runner Vanderlei de Lima is attacked by Irish priest Cornelius Horan and dragged into the crowd. De Lima recovered to take bronze, and was later awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship.
- British athlete Kelly Holmes wins gold in the 800 m and 1500 m.
- Liu Xiang wins gold in the 110 m hurdles, equalling Colin Jackson's 1993 world record time of 12.91 seconds. This was China's first ever gold in men's track and field.
- The Olympics saw Afghanistan's first return to the Games since 1999 (it was banned due to the Taliban's extremist attitudes towards women, but was reinstated in 2002).
- Hicham El Guerrouj wins gold in the 1500 m and 5000 m. He is the first person to accomplish this feat at the Olympics since Paavo Nurmi in 1924.
- Greek athlete Fani Halkia comes out of retirement to win the 400 m hurdles.
- The US women's 4x200m swimming team of Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno win gold, smashing the long standing world record set by the German Democratic Republic in 1987.
- The United States lost for the first time in Olympic men's basketball since NBA players were permitted to play in the Games. This defeat came at the hands of Puerto Rico 92-73.
- Argentina wins a shocking victory over the United States in the semi-finals of men's basketball. They go on to beat Italy 84-69 in the final.
- Windsurfer Gal Fridman wins Israel's first-ever gold medal.
- Dominican athlete Félix Sánchez won the first ever gold medal for the Dominican Republic in the 400 m hurdles event.
- German kayaker Birgit Fischer wins gold in the K-4 500 m and silver in the K-2 500 m. In so doing, she became the first woman in any sport to win gold medals at 6 different Olympics, the first woman to win gold 24 years apart and the first person in Olympic history to win two or more medals in five different Games.
- Swimmer Michael Phelps wins 8 medals (6 gold and 2 bronze), becoming the first athlete to win 8 medals in non boycotted Olympics.
- United States' gymnast Carly Patterson becomes only the second American woman to win the all-around gold medal.
- Chilean Tennis players Nicolás Massu and Fernando Gonzalez won the gold medal in the Doubles Competition, while Massu won the gold and Gonzalez the bronze on the Singles competition. This were Chile's first-ever gold medals.
- Anchored by Brazil, South America had its best Olympics, with nine Gold Medals.
[edit]Closing Ceremony
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.
The initial part of the ceremony interspersed the performances of various Greek singers, and featured traditional Greek dance performances from various regions of Greece (Crete, Pontos, Thessaly, etc.). The event was meant to highlight the pride of the Greeks in their culture and country for the world to see.
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. Beijing University students (who were at first incorrectly cited as the Twelve Girls Band) 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, President of the Organising Committee, and by President Dr. Jacques Rogge of the IOC, in which he described the Athens Olympics as "unforgettable, dream Games".
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'. Dr. Rogge had described Salt Lake City 2002 as "superb 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. The Olympic flag was next raised again on February 10, 2006 during the opening ceremony of next Winter Olympic games in Torino.
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 ceremony ended with a variety of musical performances by Greek singers, including George Dalaras, Haris Alexiou, Anna Vissi, Sakis Rouvas, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Alkistis Protopsalti, Antonis Remos,Mixalis Xatzigiannis, Marinella and Dimitra Galani, as thousands of athletes carried out symbolic displays on the stadium floor.
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