Demonstration sports were officially introduced in 1912 SummerOlympics, when Sweden decided to include glima, traditional Scandinavian wrestling, in the Olympic program, but with its medals not counting as "official".
Demonstration sports were suspended in 1992, as the Olympic program grew bigger and it became more difficult for the organizing committees to give them the appropriate attention, since the IOC required the same treatment to be dispensed for official and demonstration sports.
Since the 1984 SummerOlympics, two Paralympic events (a men's and a women's wheelchairracing event) have been included in the athletics (track and field) programme of each Games.
Athens2004 marked the first time since the 1996 SummerOlympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance.
It was the first Olympics since NBC had merged with Vivendi Universal Entertainment; the merger, along with the acquisitions of the Bravo and Telemundo networks, made it possible for the network to broadcast over 1200 hours of coverage during the games, triple what was broadcast in the U.S. four years earlier.
The demonstration sport of wheelchairracing was a joint Olympic/Paralympic event, allowing a Paralympic event to occur within the Olympics, and for the future, opening up wheelchairracing to the able-bodied.
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