2004 Summer Olympics

Games of the XXVIII Olympiad
Host cityAthens, Greece
MottoWelcome Home
(Greek: Καλώς ήλθατε σπίτι, Kalós ílthate spíti)
Nations201
Athletes10,625 (6,296 men, 4,329 women)
Events301 in 28 sports (40 disciplines)
Opening13 August
Closing29 August
Opened by
President Konstantinos Stephanopoulos[1]
Cauldron
Nikolaos Kaklamanakis[1]
StadiumOlympic Stadium
Summer
← Sydney 2000 Beijing 2008 →
Winter
← Salt Lake 2002 Turin 2006 →
Part of the ceremony for the lighting of the Olympic flame.

The 2004 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, were held in Athens, Greece from August 13, 2004, until August 29, 2004. It was the first time since 1906 that the Olympics were held in Greece. 10,625 athletes took part.[2] There were 301 medal events.

Bids

The four other candidate cities were Rome, Cape Town, Stockholm, and Buenos Aires. Six other cities had applied, but were turned down by the IOC in 1996. These cities were Istanbul, Lille, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Seville, and Saint Petersburg.[3]

Athens won every round of voting and easily beat Rome in round 5, the final vote. Round 2 was to settle a tie break between Cape Town and Buenos Aires from round 1.

2004 Host City Election — ballot results
City Country Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5
Athens  Greece 32 ... 38 52 66
Rome  Italy 23 ... 28 35 41
Cape Town  South Africa 16 62 22 20
Stockholm  Sweden 20 ... 19
Buenos Aires  Argentina 16 44

Medal count

A map showing countries who took part in the 2004 summer Olympics

The ranking in this table is based on information provided by the International Olympic Committee.[4]

The total number of bronze medals is greater than the total of gold or silver because in boxing and judo, two bronze medals were awarded in each weight class.[5]

Countries are ranked firstly by the number of gold medals they have, then by the number of silver, and then by the number of bronze. Where countries have the same number of each type of medal, they are listed alphabetically and given the same ranking.

Medal numbers shown in bold are the highest in their section. Greece, the host nation is highlighted in lavender.

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States United States (USA) 36 39 28 103
2 China China (CHN) 32 17 14 63
3 Russia Russia (RUS) 27 27 38 92
4 Australia Australia (AUS) 17 16 16 49
5 Japan Japan (JPN) 16 9 12 37
6 Germany Germany (GER) 13 16 20 49
7 France France (FRA) 11 9 13 33
8 Italy Italy (ITA) 10 11 11 32
9 South Korea South Korea (KOR) 9 12 9 30
10 United Kingdom Great Britain (GBR) 9 9 12 30
11 Cuba Cuba (CUB) 9 7 11 27
12 Ukraine Ukraine (UKR) 9 5 9 23
13 Hungary Hungary (HUN) 8 6 3 17
14 Romania Romania (ROU) 8 5 6 19
15 Greece Greece (GRE) 6 6 4 16
16 Brazil Brazil (BRA) 5 2 3 10
17 Norway Norway (NOR) 5 0 1 6
18 Netherlands Netherlands (NED) 4 9 9 22
19 Sweden Sweden (SWE) 4 2 1 7
20 Spain Spain (ESP) 3 11 5 19
21 Canada Canada (CAN) 3 6 3 12
22 Turkey Turkey (TUR) 3 3 4 10
23 Poland Poland (POL) 3 2 5 10
24 New Zealand New Zealand (NZL) 3 2 0 5
25 Thailand Thailand (THA) 3 1 4 8
26 Belarus Belarus (BLR) 2 6 7 15
27 Austria Austria (AUT) 2 4 1 7
28 Ethiopia Ethiopia (ETH) 2 3 2 7
29 Iran Iran (IRI) 2 2 2 6
29 Slovakia Slovakia (SVK) 2 2 2 6
31 Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei (TPE) 2 2 1 5
32 Georgia (country) Georgia (GEO) 2 2 0 4
33 Bulgaria Bulgaria (BUL) 2 1 9 12
34 Jamaica Jamaica (JAM) 2 1 2 5
34 Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (JAM) 2 1 2 5
36 Morocco Morocco (MAR) 2 1 0 3
37 Denmark Denmark (DEN) 2 0 6 8
38 Argentina Argentina (ARG) 2 0 4 6
39 Chile Chile (CHI) 2 0 1 3
40 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan (KAZ) 1 4 3 8
41 Kenya Kenya (KEN) 1 4 2 7
42 Czech Republic Czech Republic (CZE) 1 3 4 8
43 South Africa South Africa (RSA) 1 3 2 6
44 Croatia Croatia (CRO) 1 2 2 5
45 Lithuania Lithuania (LTU) 1 2 0 3
46 Egypt Egypt (EGY) 1 1 3 5
46 Switzerland Switzerland (SUI) 1 1 3 5
48 Indonesia Indonesia (INA) 1 1 2 4
49 Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (ZIM) 1 1 1 3
50 Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (AZE) 1 0 4 5
51 Belgium Belgium (BEL) 1 0 2 3
52 The Bahamas Bahamas (BAH) 1 0 1 2
52 Israel Israel (ISR) 1 0 1 2
54 Cameroon Cameroon (CMR) 1 0 0 1
54 Dominican Republic Dominican Republic (DOM) 1 0 0 1
54 United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates (UAE) 1 0 0 1
57 North Korea North Korea (PRK) 0 4 1 5
58 Latvia Latvia (LAT) 0 4 0 4
59 Mexico Mexico (MEX) 0 3 1 4
60 Portugal Portugal (POR) 0 2 1 3
61 Finland Finland (FIN) 0 2 0 2
61 Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro (SCG) 0 2 0 2
63 Slovenia Slovenia (SLO) 0 1 3 4
64 Estonia Estonia (EST) 0 1 2 3
65 Hong Kong Hong Kong, China (HKG) 0 1 0 1
65 India India (IND) 0 1 0 1
65 Paraguay Paraguay (PAR) 0 1 0 1
68 Colombia Colombia (COL) 0 0 2 2
68 Nigeria Nigeria (NGE) 0 0 2 2
68 Venezuela Venezuela (VEN) 0 0 2 2
71 Eritrea Eritrea (ERI) 0 0 1 1
71 Mongolia Mongolia (MGL) 0 0 1 1
71 Syria Syria (SYR) 0 0 1 1
71 Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) 0 0 1 1
Total 301 301 327 929

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 women's marathon, leaving Mizuki Noguchi to win the gold.
  • While leading in the men's 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. He 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.
  • Hicham El Guerrouj wins gold in the 1500 m and 5000 m. He is the first person to do this 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 4 × 200 m swimming team of Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno win gold. They beat 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 let 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. 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). He became 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. Massu won the gold and Gonzalez the bronze on the Singles competition. These were Chile's first-ever gold medals.
  • South America had its best Olympics, with nine gold medals.

Venues

OAKA

HOC

Faliro

GOC

Football venues

Other venues

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2004 Summer Olympics.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Factsheet - Opening Ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad" (PDF) (Press release). International Olympic Committee. 9 October 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  2. ↑ "Athens 2004". International Olympic Committee. olympic.org. Retrieved 19 January 2008.
  3. ↑ International Olympic Committee - Athens 2004 - Election
  4. ↑ "Athens 2004–Medal Table". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  5. ↑ "Athens 2004–Games of the XXVIII Olympiad". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2008-05-04.