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| Fireworks explode over the Olympic stadium
during the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004
Olympic Games August 13, 2004. A spectacular opening ceremony launched
the Athens Olympics on Friday, lifting spirits in the Games'
ancient birthplace. (Reuters) |
Efharisto! A nervous world learned the Greek word
for thank you and repeated it endlessly at an astonishingly successful
Athens Olympics that quelled
fears, surprised skeptics
and greatly honored the birthplace of
the games.
Fireworks and spectacular lighting kicked off the closing ceremony
Sunday night, a two-hour extravaganza of folk dancing and music in
the Olympic tradition that summed up the glee and relief the games brought
to Greece. Afterward, thousands of athletes marched into Olympic stadium,
waving their arms and flags, snapping photos of each other, hugging, and
basking in the cheers of 70,000 fans.
A full moon lit up the sky, adding an extra sparkle to the night. Not
quite as high above the celebration was the white security blimp, keeping a watchful eye on the all the
action - as it did throughout the games.
"You have won," International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge
told the Greek people, who responded with a roar. "You have won by
brilliantly meeting the tough challenge of holding the games.
"These were unforgettable, dream games."
He was right, even if they started slowly the first week with empty
seats and vacant plazas as many Greeks took their holidays and frightened
tourists stayed away. The second week saw the games transformed. The huge
Olympic stadium was packed each night for track and field. Basketball,
tennis and beach volleyball rocked.
There had been no shortage of worries that Athens would not be ready
for these games. As late as March 2000, the IOC considered moving the
Olympics out of Greece, possibly to South Korea.
"It's always nice to under promise and over deliver," said Jim Easton,
an American IOC vice president.
Athletes who finished their events partied, roaming the Plaka, Syntagma
and Omonia squares. It was Greece at its rollicking best, a spirited fusion of
visitors from all countries, and of all colors and ages. It reminded us
again, at a time when we need all the reminding we can get, that the
Olympics celebrate humanity's highest aspirations, the universal quest for
peace and the exalted
qualities of body, mind and spirit that transcend cultures.
Efharisto, Athens, for coupling the ancient with the new, putting up
with years of jarring construction, spending billions beyond your budget,
and giving us a glimpse of your future as a sophisticated, modern city.
"The world discovered a new Greece," said Athens 2004 president Gianna
Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, who made it all happen with her fierce
determination to overcome construction delays and avoid an international
humiliation.
These games took us to their sacred origin in Olympia, the mythological
home of the gods, to watch the shot put, to Marathon to stand on the spot
where the race got its name.
We trod like pilgrims to a
shrine up the dusty stones of the Acropolis to gaze with awe at the
2,500-year-old Parthenon. Our imaginations did the rest, letting us feel
the spirit of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle; Pericles and Alexander the
Great; Hippocrates and Herodotus; Euclid and Pythagoras - that brainy
bunch who laid the foundation for our culture.
The scourge of sports - steroids, stimulants and other drugs -
intruded but didn't spoil the games. A record two dozen athletes were
caught, seven lost medals, and there could be more to come as the test
results keep rolling in.
"Each positive test is a blessing for us because it's eliminating the
cheats and protecting the clean athletes," Rogge said. "The more we find,
the better."
There were scandals and controversies, as always.
These Olympics saw the rise of China as a sports superpower as it
positioned itself for the 2008 games in Beijing. The United States, buoyed
by the brilliance of swimming star Michael Phelps but embarrassed by the
three losses and mere bronze of its once-vaunted men's basketball team, won the most
medals. Americans beat their target of 100 by three, 35 of them gold.
Russia finished second with 92, including 27 gold.
China, third in the medals race, previewed its own welcome of the next
games with a group of children performing with the Beijing Opera. A young
girl, standing by a huge red lantern-shaped stage, held a small lantern
and sang "Jasmine."
The cauldron of the Olympic
Flame was slowly lowered, symbolically lighting the torches to be carried
around the world to the next Summer Games. At 10:48 pm, Athens' flame was
extinguished, singers took the stage and volleys of fireworks again lit up
the sky.
And, once more, Athens, Efharisto!
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-08-30 10:07