Athens 2004 Olympics

Athens, of course, is where the Olympics originated, back in the years before Christ. It was also the city that hosted the first modern Olympics. It seems only fitting that the motto for the Athens 2004 Olympics was "welcome home." It also seems very fitting that the opening ceremonies reflected references to the ancient Olympic games.

The opening ceremonies tied together the old and the new. Centaurs and Greek Gods mixed with pyrotechnics and the new. Scenes of Greek history were portrayed, from the Minoan civilization, to the Mycenean, to Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic period, to modern times.

Photo by Alterego.

After the Olympic flame is lit, the Parade of Nations for the Athens 2004 Olympics began. Greece was in a unique position this year, as they are usually the first country in the parade, yet, as host country, they are also supposed to be the last country in the parade. They resolved this by sending one flag bearer, Pyrros Dimas, first, then sending the rest of the athletes at the end.

The athletes marched in Greek alphabetical order. This was the only Olympics where Serbia and Montenegro marched. They were Yugoslavia before 2003, and in 2006, the united country dissolved and was no more. The nation of Kiribati marched in the Olympics for the first time, as did East Timor. Afghanistan and Iraq also marched.

In order for the Parade of Nations to begin, the giant pool of water that had been placed in the middle of the stadium had to be drained. Greek engineers managed to design a system that drained the pool in less than three minutes.

Archery

Diving

Modern Pentathlon

Tae Kwon Do

Athletics

Equestrian

Rowing

Tennis

Badminton

Fencing

Sailing

Triathlon

Baseball

Field Hockey

Shooting

Volleyball

Basketball

Football (Soccer)

Softball

Water Polo

Boxing

Gymnastics

Swimming

Weight Lifting

Canoeing

Handball

Synchronized Swimming

Wheelchair Racing

Cycling

Judo

Table Tennis

Wrestling

At the Athens 2004 Olympics, Afghanistan was able to return to competition. They had been banned from competing in the 2000 games because of Taliban rule.

Afghanistan sent five athletes to the Athens Olympics: three men and two women. 2004 was the first year that Afghans sent women to compete in an Olympic competition. For the men, Masound Azizi ran the 100 meter race, Basharmal Sultani boxed in the welterweight class, and Bashir Ahmad Rahmati competed in freestyle wrestling. For the women, Robina Muqimyar ran in the 100 meter race and Friba Razayee competed in Judo.

Although Afghanistan did not bring home a medal (in fact they never have brought home a medal; their highest place was a fifth place finish by Mohammed Ebrahimi in wrestling in 1964), just being at the Olympics was an accomplishment for the athletes there.

Birgit Fischer is a kayaker who, in 2004, completed a remarkable accomplishment: She won a gold medal in her sixth Olympic games. All six gold medals were awarded canoe sprint. In 1980, she was the youngest canoeing champion ever, and at age 42, she was the oldest canoeing champion in 2004.

Between 1980 and 2004, she received a gold medal in every Olympics that she participated in. The only Olympics that she missed was the 1984 games in Los Angeles, which East Germany was boycotting.

In the beginning of her career, she canoed for East Germany. After the wall fell and Germany united, she competed for the United country.

The Athens 2004 Olympics was her last games. She did not participate in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

At the Athens 2004 Olympics, two names kept popping up in the swimming world: Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin. Michael Phelps didn't dominate as much as he would later do in 2008, but he did make an impact. Natalie Coughlin chose the wrong time to be a swimmer; in both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, her achievements were exceptional, but both times, she was overshadowed by Phelps.

The US men and women took home a few gold relay medals.

When you think of the athletes of the Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps will inevitably come to mind, but he didn't do so badly at the Athens 2004 Olympics either. In his second Olympics (Phelps participated in Sydney but did not receive a medal), Phelps ended up with a respectable six gold medals and two bronzes. He was already breaking records in Athens, tieing Mark Spitz's record of winning four gold medals in individual events.

Michael Phelps showed team spirit when he let Ian Crocker swim in his place during the butterfly leg of the 4×100m medley relay. Normally, the swimmer who gets to swim during the finals is the person who swims the fastest in the individual race of the corresponding stroke. Phelps beat Crocker in the 100m butterfly by .04 seconds. Crocker had made an earlier mistake during the finals of the 4x100m freestyle, so Phelps let him make up his mistake by giving his spot in the final of the 4x100m medley. Team USA ended up winning with world record time, and both swimmers were able to get a gold medal for the event (Phelps also received gold, as he swam in a preliminary round).

Photo of Michael Phelps by Karen Blaha. Photo from Missouri in 2008.

Natalie Coughlin took home five medals at the Athens 2004 Olympics. She won two gold medals: one for the 100m backstroke, and another for the 4x200m freestyle relay that she participated in. She received two silver medals as well: one for the 4x100m freestyle relay, and another for the 4x100m medley. She also earned a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle. This would be an accomplishment for anybody, but it was overshadowed by the eight medals, six of them gold, the Phelps received that year.

Photo by tobyandtaishan.

During the Athens 2004 Olympics, the US women took gold in the 4x200m relay. If you watched the Beijing games, you might be familiar with some of the names. Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno won gold that year. They also beat the world record that the German Democratic Republic set in 1987.

The running world made some news at the Athens 2004 Olympics. The American women dropped the baton in their relay (a tradition that they would keep going in 2008), illness kept the marathon medal favorite, Paula Radcliffe, from even finishing, and other runners staged an accident to cover up their drug use.

One of the craziest events to happen in Olympic running in 2004 was when a protester, Cornelius "Neil" Horan, grabbed the front runner n the marathon, Vanderlei de Lima, in order to send a message to the world that the end was near.

Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil is a marathon runner who was about to win the gold in the race. He was about 4 1/3 miles away from the finish line, when the unthinkable happened. He was grabbed by one of the spectators on the sidelines. Another spectator helped free him so he could get back onto the track, but the damage had been done. De Lima lost his momentum, and instead of leaving with the gold, he got a bronze medal instead (still not a bad accomplishment).

Stefano Baldini of Italy ended up getting the gold, and Mebrahtom Keflezighi from the United States ended up with the silver medal.

The protester was Cornelius "Neil" Horan, a former Irish priest who also interrupted the British Grand Prix in 2003. He wore a sign saying "the second coming is near says the Bible. Grand Prix Priest." Although the Bible tells Christians to tell other people about Jesus, I also think that there's something else in there about not assaulting other people...

De Lima was awarded the de Lima the Pierre de Coubertin Medal for sportsmanship at the closing ceremony of the Olympic games for his sportsmanship. Although many felt bad about what happened, the results could not be changed.

Emanuel Rego, a beach volleyball player from Brazil who won gold at the Athens 2004 Olympics, tried to give his medal to de Lima. He did not accept it. He said in reply "I'm happy with mine, it's bronze but means gold"

He did not participate in the Beijing Olympics.

Photo by Ricardo Stuckert.

Paula Radcliffe, a long distance runner from Great Britain, was favorited to take home the gold at the Athens 2004 Olympics for the marathon. Unfortunately, she injured her leg a couple weeks before the event, and the drugs that she had to take hindered her ability to absorb food. The lack of energy led to her withdrawing at around 36km. She later tried to race in the 10,000m race, but withdrew from that before finishing as well.

She ran in the Marathon in Beijing, but a cramp caused her to stop running for a bit while she stretched. She resumed the race, but ended up placing 23rd overall.

Photo by Jkam.

The US Women's team could have done well in the 4x100m relay at the Athens 2004 Olympics, except for one thing: they needed to pass the baton safely. They didn't. The team, comprising of Angela Williams, Marion Jones, Lauren Williams, and LaTasha Colander were disqualified for passing outside of the official passing zone, when Jones was passing to Williams. They were disqualified from the race, and the Jamaican team went on to win.

This wasn't the first time that the US relay team would mess up a baton pass in an Olympics, nor would it be the last. The men's 4x100 team failed to safely pass in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Both the women's and the men's team failed to pass the baton safely in the 2008 Beijing Olympics (Lauren Willams would once again be involved in the botched baton pass). I know they're fast, but perhaps they should spend a little more time practicing their passes. It would be a little embarrassing to make the same mistake in the 2012 London Olympics.

Konstantinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou, two sprinters that were expected to race in the Athens 2004 Olympics, withdrew at the last minute. They had missed a drug test after claiming to have been in a motorcycle accident. The Greek authorities later charged them with lying to the authorities. She was later barred from competing in the 2008 Olympics as well, thought to be guilty of conduct that could show the games in a negative light.

Liu Xiang became the first Chinese person to receive a gold medal for track and field in the Athens 2004 Olympics. He received his medal in the 110 meter hurdles. In the process, he also equaled the world record, set by Colin Jackson in 1993.

When it rains, it pours. Xing Huina also received a gold medal for China in the same Olympics; she received a gold medal for the 10,000 meter race.

The 2004 Athens Olympics was the third Olympics for Hicham El Guerrouj, who competed for Morocco. Although his performance for most of the 2004 running season was lackluster, he made up for it by taking the gold in both the 1500m and 5000m races. He was the first runner to achieve that accomplishment since Paavo Nurmi in 1924.

The Olympics were Hicham El Guerrouj's last time competing internationally. He announced his retirement on May 22, 2006.

Photo by Elporfavor.

The United States, used to dominating the Olympic games when it came to basketball, did not come away with the gold at the Athens 2004 Olympics. In the semifinals, the men's team lost to Argentina, who went on to win the gold. In the bronze medal game, the United States beat Lithuania, coming in third overall. Italy received the silver medal.

The women's basketball team won the gold, followed by Australia with the silver and Russia with the bronze.

Photo of Greece and Argentina warming up by Matthew Mayer.

In the equestrian events of the 2004 Athens games, medals changed hands twice. In both cases the reasons were for drugs in the horses.

The first horse to fail a drug test at the Athens 2004 Olympics was Waterford Crystal, who tested positive for four banned substances. The judges disqualified the entire Irish team as a result. The medals were rearranged, giving Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil the gold, Chris Kappler of the United States silver, and Germany's Marco Kutscher bronze.

The German horse Goldfever also failed a drug test, this time for using an ointment containing a banned substance that was used for a skin condition. Although many believe that the medicine was not used to enhance performance, Goldfever's performance was disqualified, and the German team lost the gold. The American team was given the gold, Sweden got the silver, and the Germans were able to receive the bronze, even without Goldfever's help.

The Athens 2004 Olympics occurred just three years after the September 11th attacks in 2001. Greece stepped up their security budget as a result. About $1.2 billion was spent on security. 70,000 police officers patrolled the Olympic area. The European Union and NATO also provided help.

The Athens 2004 Olympics would be the last time you would see the perfect 10 system at the Olympic games. A controversy over starting values would result in a change in they way that events would be scored; this change would be similar to the changes that were made to figure skating after a different kind of scandal occurred after the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Carlie Patterson would bring honor to the American team, bringing home the all-around gold.

The men's gymnastics competition in the Athens 2004 Olympics led to controversy and even changed the way that gymnastics would be scored in the future.

During the individual all-around competition, Paul Hamm fell on the vault, but he went on to perform well for the rest of the event, and came away with the gold. Hamm beat the silver medalist, Korea's Dae Eun Kim, by only 12 thousandths of a point, the closest in male gymnastic history. The bronze medalist, Yang Tae-Young, was only 49-thousandths of a point behind.

Tae-Young later protested the results, saying that his starting score should have been 10.0, when he was given a starting score of 9.9 by the judges. Although the judges agreed that his starting score should have been 10.0, Tae-Young protested too late, and the final score remained.

Partly because of this controversy, the gymnastics scoring system was overhauled in 2005, and the perfect "10" was eliminated from gymnastics history forever.

Carly Patterson received three medals in the Athens 2004 Olympics: she took home the individual all-around gold, a silver in the team competition, and a silver on the balance beam. Her individual all-around gold was only the second for a United States female. Mary-Lou Retton accomplished this in 1984; it was a boycotted Olympics, sans the Soviet Union. This makes Carly Patterson's achievement even greater.

Unfortunately, doctors noticed bulging discs in her lower back after the Athens games. She took time off to recover, but later retired completely, without ever competing internationally again.

At the Athens 2004 Olympics, Israel won two medals. Ariel Ze'evi earned a bronze medal in the men's judo competition, and Gal Fridman won a gold medal in sailing. Gal Fridman's gold was Israel's first gold medal ever. For his accomplishment, Fridman was given the honor of carrying the Israeli flag in the closing ceremony.

Israel had competed in each summer Olympic game since 1952, with the exception of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. They have competed in every Winter Olympic game since 1994. It was a proud moment for the country to walk away with their first gold.

Israel sent 36 athletes to the 2004 Olympics, and competed in 13 sports.

Photo by Amoruso.

The Dominican Republic received their first gold medal ever at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Felix Sanchez earned a gold medal in the men's 400 meter hurdles. This was their only medal received at this Olympic games.

In total, the Dominican Republic sent 33 competitors to the Athens 2004 Olympics, including 17 men and 16 women. They participated in 9 different sports: athletics, boxing, judo, shooting, table tennis, tae kwon do, volleyball, weight lifting, and wrestling.

Photo of Felix Sanchez in 2009 taken by Erik van Leeuwen.

Nation

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

United States

36

39

27

102

China

32

17

14

63

Russia

27

27

38

92

Australia

17

16

16

49

Japan

16

9

12

37

Germany

13

16

20

49

France

11

9

13

33

Italy

10

11

11

32

South Korea

9

12

9

30

Great Britain

9

9

12

30