On 13 August, the biggest celebration of the world began at the Athens Olympic Stadium

Exactly at 20:45, the Opening Ceremony signalled the start of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games. 72.000 people inside the Olympic Stadium and four billion more across the globe watched the moment the Games returned to the country where they were born and the city where they revived. The spectators inside the Olympic Stadium watched a live pre-show, hosted by the well known journalist and broadcaster Nikos Aliagas and “High-Priestess” Thalia Prokopiou, who lit the Olympic Torch during the Lighting Ceremony in Ancient Olympia. The two hosts warmed up the audience for the show and introduced them to the various ways of their participation in the Ceremony, since spectators will play an active part in it. Connecting symbolically the Ancient Olympia Stadium with the Athens Olympic Stadium, the beginning of the Opening Ceremony bridged 3,000 years of Olympic Games history. 400 percussionists played to the rhythm of the Greek dance “zeimbeiko” and then to the heartbeat, as the Olympic circles appeared flaming through the water that covered the Olympic Stadium’s field of play. Then the Stadium entered the ATHENS 2004 President, Ms Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the IOC President, Dr. Jaques Rogge, and the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Konstantinos Stefanopoulos, and the Greek flag was raised. Next, a giant Cycladic head (2,700 b.C.) slowly emerged from the centre of the Stadium. Following the course of Greek art, it then broke apart to reveal to the astonished audience the figure of a “Kouros” statue and then to a classical statue. At the perimeter of the field of play the history of Greek civilisation was depicted, starting from the Minoan age to the present day, through works of art. The 202 National Delegations paraded in the Olympic Stadium in alphabetical order (according to the Greek alphabet), accompanied by music played by the famous DJ Tiesto. After the speeches of the ATHENS 2004 and the IOC Presidents, the President of the Hellenic Democracy proclaimed the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games open.