The 2004 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad and also known as Athens 2004, were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes compete, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries, with 301 medal events in 28 different sports. The 2004 Games marked the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance, and also marked the first time Athens hosted the Games since their first modern incarnation in 1896 as well as the return of the Olympic games to its birthplace. Athens became one of only four cities at the time to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games on two occasions. A new medal obverse was introduced at these Games, replacing the design by Giuseppe Cassioli that had been used since 1928. The new design features the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens rectifying the long-running mistake of using a depiction of the Roman Colosseum rather than a Greek venue. The 2004 Games was the first of two consecutive Olympic games to be held in Southern Europe since the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and was followed by the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
The 2004 Summer Paralympics, the 12th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Athens, Greece from 17 to 28 September 2004. 3,808 athletes from 136 countries participated. During these games 304 World Records were broken with 448 Paralympic Games Records being broken across 19 different sports. 8,863 volunteers worked along the Organizing Committee.
The Olympic Athletic Center of Athens Spiros Louis or OACA (OAKA)), is a sport facilities complex located at Marousi, in the north section of the city. The complex consists of five major venues as well as other supplementary sport facilities.
Goudi Olympic Complex is a sports complex in Athens, Greece. It held two of the sports venues used during the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Ano Liosia Olympic Hall is a multi-purpose and multi-sport indoor arena that is located in Ano Liosia, in west section of Athens, Greece. The arena was mainly used to host various martial arts tournaments but from 2021 its used by AEK B.C. for its home games in the Greek Basket League and the Basketball Champions League. The arena's seating capacity for sporting events is 8,327 people.
The Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Centre hosted the equestrian events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The venue is located at Markópoulo on the outskirts of the Athens suburbs. It was completed in December 2003 and officially opened on August 12, 2004, shortly before the beginning of the competition. The capacity of the venue is 10,000 for the Jumping Event, 8,100 seats for the Dressage and 15,000 seats for the Cross-Country Event.
The Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre was the site of the shooting events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The venue is located in Markópoulo, on the outskirts of the eastern suburbs of Athens. It has a seating capacity of 4,000, though a public capacity of only 2,330 for the Olympics. The venue was completed in March, 2004 and officially opened on August 2, 2004, shortly before the beginning of the Olympics.
The Nikaia Olympic Weightlifting Hall is an indoor arena in Nikaia, in Piraeus, Athens, Greece. It hosted the weightlifting events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. The venue was officially opened on August 14, 2004, the day after the beginning of the Games. The building had a capacity of 5,100, though only 3,500 seats are publicly available for the games.
The Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall is an indoor arena that is located in Peristeri, west Athens. The hall was the site of the boxing events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The venue originally seated 8,400, though it had a public capacity of only 5,600 for the 2004 Olympics.
Kaftanzoglio Stadium is a sports stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece. The stadium was built with money donated by the Kaftanzoglou Foundation, in honour of Lysandros Kaftanzoglou, hence its name. At the time of its opening on 27 October 1960, the stadium was one of the highest quality stadiums in the Balkans. It currently has 27,770 seats, owing to a comprehensive renovation before reopening to host football matches for the 2004 Summer Olympics, which was centered in Athens. It was the largest stadium in Greece until 1982, but has since been surpassed in capacity by the Olympic Stadium in Athens.
The Athens Olympic Aquatic Centre is a complex at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Marousi, Athens, Greece, consisting of two outdoor pools and one indoor pool, that was built for the 1991 Mediterranean Games. It was refurbished and expanded for the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Paralympics. The larger of the two outdoor pools, which seats 11,500 spectators, hosted swimming and water polo events. The smaller pool, which hosted synchronized swimming, had the capacity for 5.300 people. The indoor pool also hosted the water polo finals and diving and the swimming during the Paralympics had capacity for another 6.300 persons.
The O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall, which is a part of the Olympic Athletic Center of Athens (O.A.C.A.) «Spyros Louis», was completed in 1994, and is the largest indoor venue in Greece and was used for sporting events at the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, Greece. It is located in Marousi, in the north section of the city. During their construction and renovations was considered to be one of the biggest and most modern indoor sports arenas in all of Europe.
The Faliro Olympic Beach Volleyball Centre is a stadium in the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex that hosted the beach volleyball competition for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The stadium holds a total of 9,600 individuals, though the public seating capacity was limited to 7,300 during the Olympics. The stadium was officially opened on August 2, 2004, a few weeks before the Olympics, though test events were held at the site a year earlier.
The Olympic Modern Pentathlon Centre was the site of the modern pentathlon events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The venue seats 2,500 for the swimming part of the competition, 5,000 for the riding and running parts each, and 3,000 for the fencing and shooting. Construction at the facility was completed on 30 May 2004 and it was officially opened exactly two months later.
The Neo Phaliron Velodrome was a velodrome and sports arena in the Neo Faliro District of Piraeus, Greece, used for the cycling events at the Athens 1896 Summer Olympics. The property was donated by the Athens-Piraeus train company to the Hellenic Olympic Committee. It became the home of two football clubs which expanded into more sports: Ethnikos Piraeus (1923) and Olympiacos CFP (1925).
The Zappeion is a large, palatial building next to the National Gardens of Athens in the heart of Athens, Greece. It is generally used for meetings and ceremonies, both official and private and is one of the city's most renowned modern landmarks.
Hellinikon Stadium is a stadium located at the Hellinikon Olympic Complex in Hellinikon, Athens, located approximately 8 kilometres south of the center of Athens, near Glyfada on the Aegean Sea coast. Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. currently plays its home matches there.
The Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, commonly referred to as the Karaiskakis Stadium, is a football stadium in Piraeus, Attica, Greece, and the home ground of the Piraeus football club Olympiacos. It is named after Georgios Karaiskakis, a military commander of the Greek War of Independence, who is national hero and was mortally wounded in the area.
