2004 Athens Olympic Stadium Current Tenants AEK Athens Greece National Football Team Former Tenants 2004 Athens Olympics Population Base 3,400,000 On Site Parking Unknown Nearest Airport Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos (AIA) The Olympic Stadium, the centre of the Olympic Games 2004, is situated at Maroussi and it is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (OAKA). The Olympic Stadium will host 72,000 spectators, who will attend the exciting Athletics events, the Football gold medal match and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Following an ATHENS 2004 and Ministry of Culture initiative, the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has designed the upgrade of OAKA using innovative and creative ways, including the new roof structure for Olympic Stadium. Work at the AOSC fell notoriously behind schedule during the last 3 years, to a point where it was feared that they would not be finished on time. The problems were solved, and the work proceed according to the (very tight) time schedule.

The most famous part of the construction, the "jewel in the crown" as it has come to be known, is the roof of the Olympic Stadium. The roof will be the trademark of the Athens Games, either by its presence or absence! The parts of the roof arrived from Italy during the summer of 2003. The two giant arcs have a total span of 304m and a maximum height of 80m. They provide the support for the cables that hold the polycarbonate panels comprising the roof. Its total weight will be 16,000 tons and it will cover an area of 10,000 sq.m. This means that almost 95% of the seats will be covered (only 35% were before). The special coating of the panels will reflect 60% of the sunlight, something extremely important when considering the weather conditions in Athens during the summer. The Ministry of Culture is responsible for this project. In 2004 the Olympic Games returned to Greece, the home of both the ancient Olympics and the first modern Olympics. For the first time ever a record 201 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Olympic Games.

The overall tally for events on the programme was 301 (one more than in Sydney 2000). Popularity in the Games reached soared to new highs as 3.9 billion people had access to the television coverage compared to 3.6 billion for Sydney 2000. Women's wrestling was included in the program for the first time. Swimmer Michael Phelps won 6 gold medals and set a single-Games record with 8 total medals. Leontien Ziljaard-van Moorsel became the first female cyclist to earn 4 career gold medals and 6 total medals, while canoeist Birgit Fischer became the first athlete in any sport to win two medals in each of 5 Olympics. Runner Hicham El Guerrouj won both the 1,500m and the 5,000m, while on the women's side Kelly Holmes triumphed in both the 800m and the 1,500m. In team play, Argentina won the men's football tournament without giving up a goal, and the U.S. softball team won by outscoring their opponents 51-1.

2004 Summer Olympics : definition of 2004 Summer Olympics and synonyms of 2004 Summer Olympics (English) IOC The ceremony for the lighting of the flame is arranged as a pagan pageant, with priestesses dancing. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens , Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, [1] some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries. [1] There were 301 medal events in 28 different sports . [1] Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance. It was also the first time since 1896 (other than the since-downgraded 1906 Intercalated Games ) that the Olympics were held in Greece.

A new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli that had been used since the 1928 Games . This rectified the long lasting mistake of using a depiction of the Roman Colosseum rather than a Greek venue. [2] The new design features the Panathinaiko Stadium . [3] Contents Main article: 2004 Summer Olympics bids Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on 5 September 1997. Athens had lost its bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta nearly seven years before, on 18 September 1990, during the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo. Under the direction of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki , Athens pursued another bid, this time for the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004. 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 could play in promoting Olympism and the Olympic Movement.

Furthermore, unlike their bid for the 1996 Games which was largely criticized for its overall disorganization and arrogance – wherein the bid lacked specifics and relied largely upon sentiment and the notion that it was Athens' right to organize the Centennial Games; [4] the bid for the 2004 Games was lauded for its humility and earnestness, its focused message, and its detailed bid concept. [5] The 2004 bid addressed concerns and criticisms raised in its unsuccessful 1996 bid – primarily Athens' infrastructural readiness, its air pollution, its budget, and politicization of Games preparations. [6] Athens' successful organization of the 1997 World Championships in Athletics the month before the host city election was also crucial in allaying lingering fears and concerns among the sporting community and some IOC members about its ability to host international sporting events. [7] Another factor which also contributed to Athens' selection was a growing sentiment among some IOC members to restore the values of the Olympics to the Games, a component which they felt was lost during the heavily criticized over-commercialization of Atlanta 1996 Games .

[8] Subsequently, the selection of Athens was also motivated by a lingering sense of disappointment among IOC members regarding the numerous organizational and logistical setbacks experienced during the 1996 Games. [8] 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 . [9] 2004 Host City Election – ballot results City Development and preparation Costs In June 2004, the BBC reported that the costs of hosting Olympic Games were close to € 10 billion.

[10] On 13 November 2004, the Greek embassy estimated the costs of hosting the Olympics at €8.954 billion (about $ 11.2 billion in 2004) not including construction made regardless of the Games, but including 1.08 billion Euros ($1.35 billion) in security costs. [11] NBC Universal paid the IOC $793 million for U.S. broadcast rights, [12] the most paid by any country. NBC 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. Concerns about terrorism elevated following the 11 September 2001 attacks . 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 used 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. Construction Inside the Athens Olympic Stadium 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. This stadium was completed with a retractable glass roof designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava . The same architect also designed the Velodrome and other facilities.

Infrastructure, such as the tram line linking venues in southern Athens with the city proper, and numerous venues were considerably behind schedule 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 July/August 2004, all venues were delivered: in August, the Olympic Stadium was officially completed and opened, joined or preceded by the official completion and openings of other venues within the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (OAKA), and the sports complexes in Faliro and Helliniko. The OAKA Plaza and Arch adjacent to the Olympic Stadium Late July and early August witnessed the Athens Tram and Light Rail become operational, and these two systems provided additional connections to those already existing between Athens and its waterfront communities along the Saronic Gulf .

These communities included the 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 15,000-seat Helliniko Olympic Basketball Arena , and the softball and baseball stadia), and the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex (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. EMI released Unity, the official pop album of the Athens Olympics, in the leadup to the Olympics. [13] It features contributions from Sting , Lenny Kravitz , Moby , Destiny's Child , and Avril Lavigne . [13] EMI has pledged to donate US$180,000 from the album to UNICEF's HIV/AIDS program in Sub-Saharan Africa . [13] At least 14 people died during the work on the facilities. Most of these people were not from Greece. [14] 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 also protested. They claimed to have the right to the same Olympic bonuses promised to their security force counterparts. Torch relay For the first time the Olympic Flame toured the world The lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame took place on 25 March 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. Mascots The mascots were based on this clay model at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens A plush mascot Mascots have been a tradition at the Olympic Games since the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble , France. The Athens games had two official mascots: Athiná and Phévos (pronounced in Greek, Athina and Fivos). The sister and brother were named after Athena, the goddess of wisdom, strategy and war , and Phoebus, the god of light and music , respectively. They were inspired by the ancient daidala , which were dolls that had religious connotations 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.

[15] 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. [16] NBC launched its own Olympic website, NBCOlympics.com. Focusing on the television coverage of the games, it did provide video clips, medal standings, live results. Its main purpose, however, was to provide a schedule of what sports were on the many stations of NBC Universal. The games were on TV 24 hours a day on one network or another. Technology View of the ATHOC Technology Operations Center during the Games. As with any enterprise, the Organizing Committee and everyone involved with it relied heavily on technology in order to deliver a successful event. ATHOC maintained two separate data networks, one for the preparation of the Games (known as the Administrative network) and one for the Games themselves (Games Network).

The technical infrastructure involved more than 11,000 computers, over 600 servers , 2,000 printers , 23,000 fixed-line telephone devices, 9,000 mobile phones, 12,000 TETRA devices, 16,000 TV and video devices and 17 Video Walls interconnected by more than 6,000 kilometers of cabling (both optical fiber and twisted pair ). This infrastructure was created and maintained to serve directly more than 150,000 ATHOC Staff, Volunteers, Olympic family members ( IOC , NOCs , Federations), Partners & Sponsors and Media. It also kept the information flowing for all spectators, TV viewers, Website visitors and news readers around the world, prior and during the Games. The Media Center was located inside the Zappeion which is a Greek national exhibition center. Between June and August 2004, the technology staff worked in the Technology Operations Center (TOC) from where it could centrally monitor and manage all the devices and flow of information, as well as handle any problems that occurred during the Games. The TOC was organized in teams (e.g.

Systems, Telecommunications, Information Security, Data Network, Staffing, etc.) under a TOC Director and corresponding team leaders (Shift Managers). The TOC operated on a 24x7 basis with personnel organized into 12-hour shifts. Plastic Explosives Discovery An operation which was carried out by the Greek National Intelligence Services, in collaboration with a foreign Intelligence Service, discovered a large amount of plastic explosives a few days prior to the beginning of the Olympics Games. [17] Uncorfirmed sources, claim that the operation was initiated after a report about a specific group of people, which was filed by Panagiotis A. Xenos-Kokoletsis, the nephew of the former Rear Admiral and General Administrator of Security for the Hellenic Navy , Andreas-Vasilios Xenos-Kokoletsis [18] [19] and cousin of the former Police Major General-Deputy Commissioner, Anastasios Alexopoulos. As the Olympic Games were absolutely safe and the group was completely dismantled, it was decided that the incident will remain on the archives of the Hellenic Police, in order to avoid creating a situation of panic and insecurity that would probably end up in tickets mass cancellations.

The Games Main article: 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The widely praised Opening Ceremony Directed by avant garde choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou and Produced by Jack Morton Worldwide led by Project Director David Zolkwer was held on 13 August 2004. It began with a twenty eight (the number of the Olympiads up to then) second countdown paced by the sounds of an amplified heartbeat. [20] As the countdown was completed, fireworks rumbled and illuminated the skies overhead. After a drum corps and bouzouki players joined in an opening march, the video screen showed images of flight, crossing southwest from Athens over the Greek countryside to ancient Olympia. Then, a single drummer in the ancient stadium joined in a drum duet with a single drummer in the main stadium in Athens, joining the original ancient Olympic games with the modern ones in symbolism. At the end of the drum duet, a single flaming arrow was launched from the video screen (symbolically from ancient Olympia) and into the reflecting pool, which resulted in fire erupting in the middle of the stadium creating a burning image of the Olympic rings rising from the pool.

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 aethereal 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 NBC in the United States presented the entire opening ceremony from start to finish, a topless Minoan priestess was shown only briefly, the breasts having been pixelated digitally in order to avoid controversy (as the "Nipplegate" incident was still fresh in viewer's minds at the time) and 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. Following the artistic performances, a parade of nations entered the stadium with over 10,500 athletes walking under the banners of 201 nations. The nations were arranged according to Greek alphabet making Finland , Fiji, Chile , and Hong Kong the last four to enter the stadium before the Greek delegation. On 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 it. 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 at these games and East Timor made a debut under its own flag.

After the Parade of Nations, during which the Dutch DJ Tiësto provided the music, the Icelandic singer Björk performed the song Oceania , written specially for the event by her and the poet Sjón . The Opening Ceremony culminated in the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron by 1996 Gold Medalist Windsurfer Nikolaos Kaklamanakis . Many key moments in the ceremony, including the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, featured music composed and arranged by John Psathas [21] from New Zealand. 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. Kaklamanakis would later win his silver medal in the men's mistral behind Israeli windsurfer Gal Fridman . Following this, the stadium found itself at the centre of a rousing fireworks spectacular. Participating NOCs All National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Athens Games, as was the case in 1996.

Two new NOCs had been created since 1996 and made their debut at these Games ( Kiribati and Timor-Leste ). Therefore with the re-appearance of Afghanistan (missing the 2000 Summer Olympics ) the number of participating nations increased from 199 to 202. Also since 2000, Yugoslavia had changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro and its code from YUG to SCG. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants each NOC contributed. Participating nations Zimbabwe (13) 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 demonstration 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 the wheelchair race to the able-bodied. The 2004 Summer Paralympics were also held in Athens, from 20 to 28 September. 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. Closing Ceremony Balloons falling at the Athens 2004 Olympics Closing ceremony The Games were concluded on 29 August 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 Olympics, 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 10 February 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. Medal count Greek €100 commemorative coin part of the series Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. To commemorate the games, a series of Greek high value euro collectors' coins were minted by the Mint of Greece, in both silver and gold. The pieces depict landmarks in Greece as well as ancient and modern sports on the obverse of the coin. On the reverse, a common motif with the logo of the games, circled by an olive branch representing the spirit of the games. Preparations to stage the Olympics led to a number of positive developments for the city's infrastructure.

These improvements included the establishment of Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport , a modern new international airport serving as Greece's main aviation gateway; [23] expansions to the Athens Metro [24] system; the " Tram ", a new metropolitan tram (light rail) system [25] system; the " Proastiakos ", a new suburban railway system linking the airport and suburban towns to the city of Athens; the " Attiki Odos ", a new toll motorway encircling the city, [26] and the conversion of streets into pedestrianized walkways in the historic center of Athens which link several of the city's main tourist sites, including the Parthenon and the Panathinaiko Stadium (the site of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 ). [27] [28] All of the above infrastructure is still in use to this day, and there have been continued expansions and proposals to expand Athens' metro, tram, suburban rail and motorway network, the airport, as well as further plans to pedestrianize more thoroughfares in the historic center of Athens.

The Greek Government has created a corporation, Olympic Properties SA, which is overseeing the post-Olympics management, development and conversion of these facilities, some of which will be sold off (or have already been sold off) to the private sector, [29] [30] while some other facilities are still in use, or have been converted for commercial use or modified for other sports. [31] As of 2012 many conversion schemes have stalled owing to the financial crisis in Greece and most of the Olympic sites are either derelict or dilapidated. The annual cost to maintain the sites has been estimated at £500 million, a sum which has been politically controversial in Greece, [32] though many of these facilities are now under the control of domestic sporting clubs and organizations or the private sector. The table below delineates the current status of the Athens Olympic facilities: Facility Track and Field One of Greece's historic sites and largest tourist attractions, open to the public to this day.

[92] International Broadcast Centre (IBC) International Broadcast Centre Has been turned over to the private company Lambda Development SA and has been converted to a shopping, retail, office and entertainment complex known as the "Golden Hall." [93] Will also become home to the Hellenic Olympic Museum and the International Museum of Classical Athletics. [48] Main Press Centre (MPC) Main Press Centre Has been converted to the new headquarters of the Greek Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity , and the amphitheater contained within has hosted numerous ceremonies and public events. [48] [62] [94] Olympic Village Housing 2,292 apartments were sold to low-income individuals and today the village is home to over 8,000 residents. [48] See also Athens 2004 | Olympics Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on 5 September 1997.

Athens had lost its bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta nearly seven years before, on 18 September 1990, during the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo. Under the direction of Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki , Athens pursued another bid, this time for the right to host the Summer Olympics in 2004. 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 could play in promoting Olympism and the Olympic Movement. Furthermore, unlike their bid for the 1996 Games which was largely criticized for its overall disorganization and arrogance – wherein the bid lacked specifics and relied largely upon sentiment and the notion that it was Athens' right to organize the Centennial Games; [5] the bid for the 2004 Games was lauded for its humility and earnestness, its focused message, and its detailed bid concept.

[6] The 2004 bid addressed concerns and criticisms raised in its unsuccessful 1996 bid – primarily Athens' infrastructural readiness, its air pollution, its budget, and politicization of Games preparations. [7] Athens' successful organization of the 1997 World Championships in Athletics the month before the host city election was also crucial in allaying lingering fears and concerns among the sporting community and some IOC members about its ability to host international sporting events. [8] Another factor which also contributed to Athens' selection was a growing sentiment among some IOC members to restore the values of the Olympics to the Games, a component which they felt was lost during the heavily criticized over-commercialization of Atlanta 1996 Games . [9] Subsequently, the selection of Athens was also motivated by a lingering sense of disappointment among IOC members regarding the numerous organizational and logistical setbacks experienced during the 1996 Games. [9] 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. [10] 2004 Host City Election – ballot results City Edit In June 2004, the BBC reported that the costs of hosting Olympic Games were close to € 10 billion. [11] On 13 November 2004, the Greek embassy estimated the costs of hosting the Olympics at €8.954 billion (about $11.2 billion in 2004) not including construction made regardless of the Games, but including 1.08 billion Euros ($1.35 billion) in security costs. [12] NBC Universal paid the IOC $793 million for U.S. broadcast rights, [13] the most paid by any country. NBC 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. Concerns about terrorism elevated following the 11 September 2001 attacks. 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 used 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.

Construction File:Athens 2004 Main Olympic Stadium.jpg 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. This stadium was completed with a retractable glass roof designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. The same architect also designed the Velodrome and other facilities. Infrastructure, such as the tram line linking venues in southern Athens with the city proper, and numerous venues were considerably behind schedule 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 July/August 2004, all venues were delivered: in August, the Olympic Stadium was officially completed and opened, joined or preceded by the official completion and openings of other venues within the Athens Olympic Sports Complex (OAKA), and the sports complexes in Faliro and Helliniko.

File:Olympic Athletic Center of Athens Plaza and Arch.jpg Late July and early August witnessed the Athens Tram become operational, and this system provided additional connections to those already existing between Athens and its waterfront communities along the Saronic Gulf. These communities included the 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 15,000-seat Helliniko Olympic Basketball Arena , and the softball and baseball stadia), and the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex (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. EMI released Unity, the official pop album of the Athens Olympics, in the leadup to the Olympics. [14] It features contributions from Sting, Lenny Kravitz, Moby, Destiny's Child, and Avril Lavigne. [14] EMI has pledged to donate US$180,000 from the album to UNICEF's HIV/AIDS program in Sub-Saharan Africa. [14] At least 14 people died during the work on the facilities. Most of these people were not from Greece.

[15] 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 also protested. They claimed to have the right to the same Olympic bonuses promised to their security force counterparts. Legacy Edit The games left Athens with an expanded subway system, a new airport along with other transportation infrastructure such as new highways, bridges, buses and light rail. It has also left debt and a number of abandoned or underused stadia for sports, including the five venue Athens Olympic Sports Complex . [16] Torch relay File:Athens athena toy.jpg Mascots have been a tradition at the Olympic Games since the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble , France. The Athens games had two official mascots: Athiná and Phévos (pronounced in Greek, Athina and Fivos). The sister and brother were named after Athena, the goddess of wisdom, strategy and war, and Phoebus, the god of light and music, respectively. They were inspired by the ancient daidala, which were dolls that had religious connotations as well as being toys.

Online coverage Edit 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. [17] 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. [18] NBC launched its own Olympic website, NBCOlympics.com. Focusing on the television coverage of the games, it did provide video clips, medal standings, live results. Its main purpose, however, was to provide a schedule of what sports were on the many stations of NBC Universal. The games were on TV 24 hours a day on one network or another.

Technology File:TOC-01.jpg As with any enterprise, the Organizing Committee and everyone involved with it relied heavily on technology in order to deliver a successful event. ATHOC maintained two separate data networks, one for the preparation of the Games (known as the Administrative network) and one for the Games themselves (Games Network). The technical infrastructure involved more than 11,000 computers, over 600 servers, 2,000 printers, 23,000 fixed-line telephone devices, 9,000 mobile phones, 12,000 TETRA devices, 16,000 TV and video devices and 17 Video Walls interconnected by more than 6,000 kilometers of cabling (both optical fiber and twisted pair). This infrastructure was created and maintained to serve directly more than 150,000 ATHOC Staff, Volunteers, Olympic family members ( IOC , NOCs , Federations), Partners & Sponsors and Media. It also kept the information flowing for all spectators, TV viewers, Website visitors and news readers around the world, prior and during the Games.

The Media Center was located inside the Zappeion which is a Greek national exhibition center. Between June and August 2004, the technology staff worked in the Technology Operations Center (TOC) from where it could centrally monitor and manage all the devices and flow of information, as well as handle any problems that occurred during the Games. The TOC was organized in teams (e.g. Systems, Telecommunications, Information Security, Data Network, Staffing, etc.) under a TOC Director and corresponding team leaders (Shift Managers). The TOC operated on a 24x7 basis with personnel organized into 12-hour shifts. The Games Main article: 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The widely praised Opening Ceremony Directed by avant garde choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou and Produced by Jack Morton Worldwide led by Project Director David Zolkwer was held on 13 August 2004. It began with a twenty eight (the number of the Olympiads up to then) second countdown paced by the sounds of an amplified heartbeat. [19] As the countdown was completed, fireworks rumbled and illuminated the skies overhead.

After a drum corps and bouzouki players joined in an opening march, the video screen showed images of flight, crossing southwest from Athens over the Greek countryside to ancient Olympia. Then, a single drummer in the ancient stadium joined in a drum duet with a single drummer in the main stadium in Athens, joining the original ancient Olympic games with the modern ones in symbolism. At the end of the drum duet, a single flaming arrow was launched from the video screen (symbolically from ancient Olympia) and into the reflecting pool, which resulted in fire erupting in the middle of the stadium creating a burning image of the Olympic rings rising from the pool. 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 aethereal 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 NBC in the United States presented the entire opening ceremony from start to finish, a topless Minoan priestess was shown only briefly, the breasts having been pixelated digitally in order to avoid controversy (as the "Nipplegate" incident was still fresh in viewer's minds at the time) and 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. Following the artistic performances, a parade of nations entered the stadium with over 10,500 athletes walking under the banners of 201 nations. The nations were arranged according to Greek alphabet making Finland , Fiji, Chile , and Hong Kong the last four to enter the stadium before the Greek delegation.

On 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 it. 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 at these games and East Timor made a debut under its own flag. After the Parade of Nations, during which the Dutch DJ Tiësto provided the music, the Icelandic singer Björk performed the song Oceania , written specially for the event by her and the poet Sjón . The Opening Ceremony culminated in the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron by 1996 Gold Medalist Windsurfer Nikolaos Kaklamanakis . Many key moments in the ceremony, including the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, featured music composed and arranged by John Psathas [20] from New Zealand.

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. Participating NOCs Edit All National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in the Athens Games, as was the case in 1996. Two new NOCs had been created since 1996 and made their debut at these Games ( Kiribati and Timor-Leste ). Therefore with the re-appearance of Afghanistan (missing the 2000 Summer Olympics ) the number of participating nations increased from 199 to 202. Also since 2000, Yugoslavia had changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro and its code from YUG to SCG. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants each NOC contributed. Template:Gallery Template:- Participating NOCs Edit 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 demonstration 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 the wheelchair race to the able-bodied. The 2004 Summer Paralympics were also held in Athens, from 20 to 28 September. 2004 Summer Olympic Sports Programme 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 (including a record 6 gold and 2 bronze), becoming the first athlete to win 8 medals in non boycotted Olympics. [22] 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. These were Chile's first-ever gold medals. [22] Anchored by Brazil , South America had its best Olympics, with nine Gold Medals. Closing Ceremony File:Athens 2004 Olympics Closing ceremony.jpg The Games were concluded on 29 August 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 Olympics, the men's marathon , was conducted, with Stefano Baldini from Italy as the winner. The bronze medal winner, Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima of Brazil, was simultaneously announced as a recipient of the Pierre de Coubertin medal for his bravery in finishing the race despite being attacked by a rogue spectator while leading with 7 km to go.

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". [3] 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'. [3] 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 10 February 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 Dionysis Savvopoulos , 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. Medal count Athens 2004 Olympics: what happened after the athletes went home? | Sport | The Guardian Olympic games 2004 Athens 2004 Olympics: what happened after the athletes went home?

As the flame for the London Olympics is kindled in Greece, Helena Smith looks at the legacy of the 2004 Games The inside of the Olympic Stadium in Athens. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images Wednesday 9 May 2012 09.21 EDT First published on Wednesday 9 May 2012 09.21 EDT Close This article is 4 years old In the soft Attic light, Athens's Olympic sports complex does not look like such a bad place. Men and women jog gently under its great steel arches, athletes go in and out of its giant installations, cyclists race up and down its lanes. Just, one thinks, as it should be, eight years after the birthplace of the Olympics, the city that invented the greatest show on Earth, defied sceptics by holding its own "dream games". But then you notice little things. The clocks have stopped along the corridors of endless basement offices, outside changing rooms beneath and around the site's velodrome. The light fixtures are rusty; there's tumbleweed almost everywhere and graffiti on the walls.

Behind their peeling paint several of the buildings are in decay and locked behind wrought-iron fences, dozens of bigger edifices and hundreds of little office blocks are standing idle. As the sun dips over the Acropolis and the light fades, the atmosphere, already forlorn, becomes strangely forbidding. Eight years after hosting the Games and as Greece prepares to light the flame ahead of London 2012 in Olympia, Athens's Olympic park, once billed as one of the most complete European athletics complexes, is no testimony to past glories. Instead, it is indicative of misplaced extravagance, desolation and despair. "They've let the whole place go to pot," says Dimitris Dimitriou, a bank worker escorting his nine-year-old son to a fencing lesson at one of the site's five installations. "The main stadium is a bit better off because it's used by football teams but, if you look around, everything is rotting and rusting. The toilets are filthy, the showers stink and there's no hot water. I don't think anythinghere has been cleaned for years." Then Dimitriou, who was 28 when Athens opened the Olympics in unexpectedly spectacular style, mutters what every Greek now fears.

"And, to think, we are still paying for all this. It's part of the reason why our country is broke. And I hate the thought but he will be paying for it, too," he says, pointing to his son. No one knows how much the Olympics cost Greece – although many think they played a major role in producing the debt that spurred the country's economic downfall. The estimates vary even though a parliamentary committee is supposed to have announced a figure. The socialist Pasok party, which oversaw most of the preparations, believes they cost €6bn (£4.8bn). The conservative New Democracy party thinks it is more like €10bn. Then there are people like Sofia Sakorafa, a former Pasok MP and champion javelin thrower who participated in two Olympics, who calculates the cost to be nearer €27bn. Spyros Kapralos, head of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, says he usually goes for a figure in between. "I wouldn't sign my name to it but I'd say €8bn," he says. "There was a lot of creative accountancy. And a lot of the works were done in such speed and haste they cost a lot more than they should have done.

I'm not happy." OAKA, the Olympic sports complex, is bad, but not as bad as the Helleniko Olympic complex on the other side of town. Here venues are not just ill-maintained but, like the economy, almost in freefall. Air conditioners and bits of panelling – apparently dislodged by high winds – lie on the ground, while the once gleaming chalet-like apartments for athletes look more like a dilapidated council estate than the manicured compound they once were. The complex's stadium, also built in 2004 – and used by Greece's national athletics federation – is cracked and crumbling, its seats broken, its stairs smashed, its track ripped. "The conditions are tragic," says Kyriakos Chondrokoukis as he sits in the stands watching his son, Dimitris, the world record-breaking high jumper, warm up. "A lot of money was spent but there's nothing to show for it. All we've been left with are a lot of empty shells. Go, go, and see for yourself." He is not wrong.

Up the road, world-class venues, purpose-built to host baseball, fencing, hockey, softball, kayak and canoeing events stand eerily empty. But on the edge of the site, facing the sea, another edifice – built to house a restaurant for the thousands of competitors and dignitaries using the facilities – really embodies the profligacy and waste. Through its dust-covered windows, beyond the litter around it, chairs can be seen, some in their original wrapping, stacked one on top of another; tables are piled high alongside unused kitchen equipment. "Apparently, it opened for one hour when Costas Simitis, the prime minister, visited before the start of the Games," says the athlete giving us a guided tour. "It never opened again." There is more. In the working class district of Nikaia, north of the port of Piraeus, the weightlifting centre has almost never been used since the Games, at least for sports purposes. In the northern suburb of Galatsi, a giant 8,000-seat stadium also built in 2004 to host table tennis and rhythmic gymnastics stands empty. "It's appalling," says Eleni Protonotariou in Galatsi's town hall.

"The municipality for years has been trying to open it up for public use so local athletes at least can use it but our efforts have always been thwarted." Further north, the Olympic village, acknowledged at the time of its construction as the best housing complex ever built for a Games, has the same ghost-like feel. What had been billed as the biggest urban regeneration project in the history of Athens, with a housing capacity for 10,000, is a depressing site, litter-strewn and derelict. Held in Greece for the first time since their modern reincarnation in Athens in 1896, the Olympics took place under the motto "welcome home". A total of 36 venues were either built or upgraded for the occasion. And the capital duly played up its links to Olympic history – assets that helped it secure the Games – for all it could. As one of the smallest countries to host the event, the Greeks still speak of 2004 as a defining moment, when the country crackled with optimism, confidence and pride. The defiance of the doomsayers who believed the Olympiad would never get off the ground – given the chaotic countdown to the opening – still elicits cries of delight.

"For a short time we were the centre of the world, people knew that a place called Athens existed," said Dimitris Evangelopoulos, Greece's national track and field coach. "And we pulled off a good Games, everyone says it. " "But," he adds, warming to the point he really wants to make, " we also lost a lot of money. For such a small country there was a great deal of unnecessary extravagance. For starters, too many [permanent] stadiums were built instead of following the example of Sydney and making temporary installations." And now, after having bankrupted itself, Greece could not even afford the estimated €60m needed as basic upkeep to operate and maintain the sites. Fed up with the shoddy facilities, Greek Olympians now invariably go to Cyprus to train. "Now we can't use them or even maintain them," says the national coach. "They're just standing there falling to pieces. It's absolutely scandalous. It's as if the lights went out at the closing ceremony and that was it." Evangelos Venizelos, the socialist Pasok leader who was in charge of co-ordinating preparations for the Olympics, admits authorities failed to "exploit the Games' success".

"Let's say there was an awkwardness around exploiting Olympic works and the atmosphere the Olympics created," he said. Kapralos, the Hellenic Olympic Committee's president, does not disagree. "There are white elephants, but the Games did serve to upgrade a big portion of the infrastructure of the city and the country. Greece lives off tourism and after the Olympics, Athens got a new airport, new ring roads, new metro, new tram system, new trolleys, new buses, new telecommunications network, new power stations. The quality of life here improved immensely." For anyone who lives in Athens that cannot be denied. Yet Kapralos, like politicians across the board, also accepts there was no post-Olympics development plan. In their rush to get venues completed, Olympic planners overlooked other crucial factors such as environmental strategy and forward thinking. They also failed to draw up economic feasibility studies or even a basic business plan. Very few of the facilities have been successfully exploited commercially. "No one in Greece is interested in ping pong or kayaking," said Kyriakos Chondrokoukis, a high school physical education teacher when he is not coaching his son. "Greece didn't need big stadiums [to host those events].

What it needs is neighbourhood stadiums for not more than, say, 3000 people." And what of Greece's Olympics legacy? "But what do we have?" he retorts. "Nothing! To be an athlete in this country you have to be a mythical hero. It would have been better had they never taken place." 2012 London Olympic Stadium * July 2006: search starts for build and design team * Oct 2006: negotiations begin with Team Stadium * Feb 2007: Olympic Board gives statement on legacy * July 2007: demolition starts on Olympic Stadium site * July 2007: Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Team Stadium * Nov 2007: concept designs launched * Dec 2007: Stadium site clearance completes * April 2008: contract signed and Team Stadium take over site * May 2008: construction started * 2011: construction finishes in time for test events to take place before the Games During the Games The Olympic Stadium will be at the heart of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games.

All Athletics events will take place in the Stadium as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, watched by millions of people around the world. It will have 25,000 permanent seats and 55,000 temporary seats that will be removed after the Games. After the Games After the Games, the Stadium will be transformed into a 25,000 capacity venue that will host a variety of sporting, educational, cultural and community events. It will be a venue for memorable sporting moments during 2012, but it will continue to add value to the local community for years to come. Halfway to the Opening Ceremony, London 2012's Progress Report Owen Gibson and Robert Booth The Guardian, Friday 16 January 2009 In 2005, Seb Coe told the International Olympic Committee that London's strategy for the venues could be summed up as "parks and passion". The candidate file said London 2012 would be a "compact Games in the heart of the city" with "venues in historic locations and parks". The stadiums would be filled with "knowledgeable, passionate spectators". Part of that vision is taking shape.

In a post-industrial wasteland, the bowl of the 80,000 seat Olympic Stadium is complete, revealing the curves of the running track where medals will be won and lost. The project is currently three months ahead of schedule and its design - with 25,000 permanent seats topped by 55,000 temporary - has won plaudits for its deliverability. That is not bad after the Wembley saga, when the new national stadium came in late and vastly over budget. Still to be resolved is the design of "the wrap" - a kilometre-long and 30-metre high plastic cladding that will cover the temporary scaffold and become the visual icon of the Games. It is, critics say, a cheap solution which risks looking tatty by contrast with the architectural drama of Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium. In truth, Olympic bosses had little choice. The estimated stadium budget is almost �500m; the 2004 estimate was �280m.

AEG SHOWS INTEREST IN OLYMPIC STADIUM May 6, 2010 Copyright 2010 MediaVentures London - Venue manager and entertainment firm AEG is showing interest in taking over the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium after the London Olympic Games are completed in 2012. The company is one of 106 that have indicated interest. A shortlist of about 30 is expected to be drawn up, with a final decision taken in July this year. AEG has expressed an initial interest in the future of the Olympic Park and, "as the world's leading sports venue owner and operator, it makes total sense for us to explore potential ideas for its future success", said an AEG spokesman. AEG, which turned the failing Millennium Dome into a successful sport and concert venue, could offer an alternative to the West Ham United if it decides to go ahead with a bid to become the operating company for the $829 million stadium. West Ham had indicated interest in turning the stadium into a soccer venue.

August 19, 2010 Copyright 2010 MediaVentures Organizations who want to lease the main 2012 Olympic stadium after the London Games are over have until the end of September to submit their bids, the company responsible for the process told Reuters. The future of the $806 million venue is a concern for lawmakers, who fear it could turn into a white elephant unless a tenant is found quickly. Organizers deliberately designed the arena to provide flexibility, but initial interest by soccer, rugby and cricket clubs foundered because of a commitment to retain an athletics track around the field. More than 100 groups took part in an initial expression of interest process earlier this year, from which a group has emerged backing the existence of a multi-use stadium for athletics and possible commercial, health or educational uses, the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) told the wire service. The interested parties also favored a long lease, and reducing the capacity from 80,000 to between 25,000 and 60,000 seats, depending on their plans. The OPLC aims to have a lease agreement signed by the end of March next year.

DOW CHEMICAL NAME TAKEN OFF BRITISH STADIUM December 22, 2011 Copyright 2011 MediaVentures London - The Sunday Express says DOW Chemical agreed to remove all its branding from Britain's Olympic stadium in what was hailed as a victory by campaigners furious at its links to a disaster in India. The U.S. corporate giant said it was agreeing to the "vision" of the 2012 Games by waiving its sponsorship rights to place its brand on a controversial fabric wrap for the stadium. Dow spokesman Scott Wheeler said: "The agreement between Dow and Locog was limited to branding of five 'test panels' that were to be removed in the months before the Games and were not part of the final design. "In mid-summer, Locog and Dow discussed Dow deferring the rights to these five panels to allow free and full execution of the design as determined by Locog.

Dow agreed to this to support Locog's and London 2012's vision for the stadium wrap." Dow never owned or operated the plant in Bhopal and bought Union Carbide in 2001 after the Indian Government had agreed a $470 million settlement in 1989. However, the firm continues to face lawsuits over compensation to victims. It says remediation of the plant is India's responsibility.

Question: What is the name of the major Greek stadium in Athens that was the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, athletics events and the football (soccer) final at the 2004 Summer Olympics?
Answer: The Olympic Stadium