2004 Summer Olympics closing ceremony

The closing ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on 29 August 2004 21:15 EEST (UTC+3) at the Olympic Stadium, in Marousi, Greece, a suburb of Athens.

Synopsis
Joining the evening for the closing ceremony, His Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic Konstantinos Stephanopoulos. Accompanied by the Adjutant to the President of the Hellenic Republic Air Force Colonel Georgios Dritsakos. With Anne Rogge, wife of the IOC President Jacques Rogge. IOC Vice-President James L. Easton and wife Phyllis Easton of the United States sitting.

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 :

🇮🇹 Stefano Baldini - Gold 🇺🇸 Mebrahtom Keflezighi - Silver🇧🇷 Vanderlei de Lima* - Bronze


 * At the men's marathon, De Lima lead the other marathoners to final kilometers of the event in his hope to give Brazil the last gold medal. During such an event, Neil Horan suddenly appears at the middle and tugs him to the crowd while try to physically assaulting him. After released by Polyvios Kossivas, Baldini and Keflezighi overpasses him, allowing him to receive bronze and receive Pierre de Coubertin medal for his sportsmanship and being awarded as the final torchbearer during the 2016 Summer Olympics' opening ceremony in Maracanã Stadium, when Brazil was the host.

Parade of Nations
The flag bearers of 202 National Olympic Committees arrived into the stadium. The flag bearers from each participating country entered the stadium informally in a single file, ordered by order of the Greek alphabet, and behind them marched all the athletes. They were led by Greek weightlifter Pyrros Dimas and Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang, with the latter represents China as the next host nation of the games.

Speeches and Games declares closed
ATHOC President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki deliver a speech, concluded and thank everyone. Followed by IOC President Jacques Rogge delivering a speech in Greek, French, and English, as he called them "unforgettable, dream games". IOC President Rogge declare closed the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens, and accordance with tradition, and called upon the youth of the world to assemble 4 years from now in Beijing, to celebrate the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. He concluded in Greek, "Ευχαριστούμε, Αθήνα. Ευχαριστούμε, Ελλάδα." - "Thank you, Athens. Thank you, Greece." IOC President Jacques Rogge awards 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 and then passed to the Mayor of Beijing Wang Qishan. He represents the committee members of the next host city, Beijing 2008, led by Liu Qi.

Then, both Greek and Chinese flags were raised after the handover was completed.

Lowering the Olympic flag
Lowering of the Olympic flag and singing of the Olympic Anthem which the Greek choirs sang in Greek. The flag was raised again two years later in Turin, Italy.

Extinguishing of the Olympic flame
The cauldron of the Olympic flame is to be lowered. A young Greek girl, 10-year-old Fotini Papaleonidopoulou from SOS Children's Villages will take a lit a symbolic lantern with the Olympic flame, accompanied by the Gold Medalists from sailing Sofia Bekatorou and Emilia Tsoulfa. And she passed it on to the other children. Before "extinguishing" the flame in the cauldron by blowing a puff of air.

Dignitaries from International organizations

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

Anthems

 * National Anthem of Greece
 * 🇨🇳 National Anthem of the People's Republic of China
 * Olympic Hymn (Greek)

Victory ceremonies

 * 🇮🇹 National Anthem of Italy

Music performances
In Athens Olympic Stadium, song many famous Greek singers. These were:

•Elefteria Arvanitaki song "Dinata"

•Dionysis Savvopoulos song "San ton Karagiozi"

•Antonis Remos song

•Alkistis Protopsalti song

•Mihalis Hatzigiannis song

•Giannis Parios song traditional Greek songs, like

•Anna Vissi song

As a guest, Sakis Rouvas song

The songs were Greek traditional and modern.