2004 Summer Olympics closing ceremony

Proceedings

Victory Ceremony

The medals for the competition were presented by Jacques Rogge, IOC President; Belgium, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Lamine Diack, IAAF President; Senegal.

The final victory ceremony was held to the three Men's marathon medallists :

ITA Stefano Baldini - Gold USA Mebrahtom Keflezighi - SilverBRA Vanderlei de Lima - Bronze

Parade of Nations

The flag bearers of 202 National Olympic Committees entered the stadium in a single file in Greek alphabetical order, followed by the athletes. The Greek and Chinese flag bearers, weightlifter Pyrros Dimas and Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, entered first as they were the current and next host nation.

Speeches and Games declares closed

ATHOC President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, IOC President Jacques Rogge delivered their speeches, the latter in Greek, French, and English. IOC President Rogge declared the closing of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens, thanking Athens ("Ευχαριστούμε, Αθήνα. Ευχαριστούμε, Ελλάδα." - "Thank you, Athens. Thank you, Greece.") and calling upon the youth of the world to assemble 4 years from now in Beijing in accordance with tradition. He also awarded the Olympic Order in Gold to Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalki, President of the Athens Organizing Committee.

Newly elected athlete members of the International Olympic Committee

The four athlete members who were elected are:

1. Frankie Fredericks (athletics, Namibia)
2. Jan Železný (athletics, Czech Republic)
3. Hicham El Guerrouj (athletics, Morocco)
4. Rania Elwani (swimming, Egypt)

Handover of the Olympic flag

Mayor of Athens Dora Bakoyannis, handed over the Olympic flag as the representative of Athens 2004 to the IOC President Jacques Rogge. The flag was then passed to the Mayor of Beijing Wang Qishan, who represented the committee members of the next host city, Beijing 2008, led by Liu Qi.

Both Greek and Chinese flags were raised following the handover.

Lowering the Olympic flag

The Olympic flag was lowered, while the Greek choirs sang the Olympic Anthem in Greek. The flag was raised again in Turin, Italy during the opening ceremony at Stadio Olimpico on the evening of 10 February 2006.

Extinguishing of the Olympic flame

The cauldron of the Olympic flame was lowered, followed by the Greek 10-year-old girl Fotini Papaleonidopoulou from SOS Children's Villages lighting a lantern with the Olympic flame with the help of sailing gold medalists Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa. The lantern was then passed onto other children from around the world, before the flame in the cauldron was blown out.

Dignitaries in attendance

Dignitaries from International organizations

• IOC International Olympic Committee –
  • IOC President Jacques Rogge and wife Anne Rogge
  • IOC Vice-President Thomas Bach and wife Claudia Bach
  • IOC Vice-President James L. Easton and wife Phyllis Easton
  • IOC Member Sergey Bubka and wife Lilia Tutunik
  • Honorary IOC President for Life Juan Antonio Samaranch
  • and Members of the International Olympic Committee

Host country dignitaries

• Greece Greece –
  • President of the Hellenic Republic Konstantinos Stephanopoulos
  • Adjutant to the President of the Hellenic Republic Air Force Colonel Georgios Dritsakos
  • ATHOC President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki & husband Theodore Angelopoulos
  • ATHOC Vice-President and former President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee Lambis Nikolaou and wife Tonia Nikolaou
  • Prime Minister of Greece and Minister for Culture Kostas Karamanlis & wife Natasa Pazaïti
  • Ex-Prime Minister Costas Simitis
  • Ex-Prime Minister of Greece Konstantinos Mitsotakis
  • President of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement and Leader of the Opposition George Papandreou
  • Mayor Dora Bakoyannis

Foreign Dignitaries from abroad

• Spain Spain –
  • Queen Sofía of Spain
  • Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo
  • Infanta Cristina of Spain
  • Crown Prince Felipe and wife Princess Letizia
• Belgium Belgium –
  • Prince Philippe and wife Princess Mathilde
• Sweden Sweden –
  • King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf and wife Queen Silvia of Sweden
• Estonia Estonia –
  • President of Estonia Arnold Rüütel and First Lady of Estonia Ingrid Rüütel
• DEN Denmark –
  • Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Prince Henrik of Denmark
• CHN China – Wang Qishan, mayor of Beijing, represents the government of the People's Republic of China and the 2008 Olympics committee members

Anthems

• GRE National Anthem of Greece
• CHN National Anthem of the People's Republic of China
• IOC Olympic Hymn (Greek)

Victory ceremonies

• ITA National Anthem of Italy

Music performances

Various music performances by Greek singers were featured in the Athens Olympic Stadium:

• Dinata — Elefteria Arvanitaki
• San ton Karagiozi — Dionysis Savvopoulos

Other Greek singers featured include:

• Antonis Remos
• Alkistis Protopsalti
• Mihalis Hatzigiannis
• Giannis Parios
• Anna Vissi
• Sakis Rouvas

Notes

References

References

1. (25 August 2004). "Closing Ceremony Under a Full Moon". International Olympic Committee.
2. [https://web.archive.org/web/20041205081856/http://www.aob.gr/english/index.html Official website of Athens Olympic Broadcasting]
3. (29 August 2004). "Hughly successful Athens Olympics close".
4. (30 August 2004). "SUMMER 2004 GAMES: CLOSING CEREMONY; For Greece, Olympics Leave Pride, Relief and a Huge Bill". [[The New York Times]].
5. "On This Day - Athens 2004 Closing Ceremony".
6. (29 August 2004). "Athletes, fans enjoy Closing Ceremony".
7. "IOC President's Speech at the Closing Ceremony of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad".
8. (2004-08-29). "Greece bids Games farewell".
9. "SOS child takes part in Closing Ceremony at the Olympic Games".
10. link. [[In.gr]]. (29 August 2004)