2004 OLYMPIC GAMES - Athens, Greece Aug. 13 - 29

[Mariner*]

Greece set for Games farewell


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/default.stm

Closing ceremony
Sunday 29 August , 1900 BST
Live on BBC1, Five Live and BBC Sport website
Athens will bid farewell to the 2004 Olympic Games in a spectacular closing ceremony on Sunday.
The main stadium will be turned into a giant wheatfield and 250,000 balloons will cascade from a night sky exploding with fireworks.

Despite various doping scandals and poor attendance figures, the 2004 Olympics have been well received.

"The Games have been a great success," said International Olympic Committee spokesman Giselle Davies.

And after confounding sceptics by completing preparations in time for the opening ceremony, organisers are promising that the Games will depart Athens in style.

"Greece is going to go out with one big party," said Lois Jacobs, producer of the closing ceremony.

They really did a fantastic job - I am very, very happy about the Games

IOC president Jacques Rogge
The opening of the Games was overshadowed by the missed drugs tests of Greek athletics stars Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou.

And a steady stream of failed drugs tests along with a slew of protests against results on technical grounds threatened to undermine the Olympics' return to their spiritual home.

But pre-Games fears over construction and security proved groundless and the two-week extravaganza had many highlights, including two notable athletics doubles.

Holmes given Olympic honour

Kelly Holmes will carry the flag for Britain at the closing ceremony after her double gold in the 800m and 1500m helped the team beat their medal haul from Sydney four years earlier.

And Morrocan Hicham El Guerrouj became the first man since Paavo Nurmi in 1924 to win both the 1,500m and 5,000m.

Earlier in the Games, US swimmer Michael Phelps had scooped six gold medals.

"It has been a good Games," added Jacobs. "The Greeks have been very hospitable and what people feared has not transpired."

Academy: Meet the Olympics' unsung heroes
One fear that did have substance was that of low ticket sales with many events watched by sparse crowds.

However, when present, the Athens public were not afraid to make their presence felt with crowd pressure forcing a delay to the men's 200m and an upgrade to the marks awarded to Russian gymnast Alexei Nemov in the men's horizontal bars.

Team GB also had its ups and downs, with Matthew Pinsent's tears after winning his fourth Olympic gold contrasting with the tears of despair as Paula Radcliffe saw her marathon dreams disappear.


Olympics message boards:
Have the 2004 Games been a success?

One nation enjoying its best-ever Olympics was China, whose bumper tally of golds included the nation's first-ever athletics track titles.


And as the 28th Olympiad in Athens draws to a close, China will take over the baton with the Olympic flame beginning its journey to the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Academy: Test your Olympic knowledge here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/3607622.stm