The Olympic Stadium (also known as the Athens Olympic Stadium) is a stadium that is part of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex. It is hosted the track and field events and the soccer final at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. It also hosted the Opening Ceremonies on August 13, 2004, and was the site of the Closing Ceremonies on August 29, 2004. The stadium seats approximately 72,000, though only 56,700 seats are being made publicly available for the track and field events and slightly more for the soccer final.
The stadium was originally completed in 1982. It hosted the 1997World Championships in Track and Field, sought in order to prove that it was capable of hosting major sporting events after the failure of Athens to win the 1996 Summer Olympics. The stadium was heavily renovated in time for the Olympics, including a controversial roof designed by Santiago Calatrava that was added atop the sidelines in order to shade fans from the fierce Athens heat. The roof was barely completed in time for the opening of the games, and the stadium was then officially re-opened on July 30, 2004.
The PanathinaikoStadium, also called Kallimarmaron, is an impressive Athensstadium near the heart of the city, southeast of the Parliament Building and the National Garden.
Athens is often called the birthplace of civilization, much in part due to the fact that modern society is so influenced from the city’s past civil and social achievements.
The Athensstadium of Panathinaiko, after serving for years as a wood venue for the Panathenaic Games, was rebuilt in marble in 329 BC by the archon Lycurgus.
Athens2004 marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance.
Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne in 05 September 1997, after surprisingly losing the bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta nearly seven years before, on 18 September 1990, during the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo.
The Mayor of Athens, Dora Bakoyianni, passed the Olympic Flag to the Mayor of Beijing, Wang Qishan.
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